Do you truly love the Lord?

Oswald Chambers challenged me this morning with these statements....

"Are we more devoted to service than we are to Jesus Christ himself?"
"It is easier to serve than to pour out our lives completely for Him."

Following these statements I asked myself two questions:
How do I serve in the wrong way?
How can I pour out my life more completely to the Lord?

While I'm sure there are heart attitudes that need to be changed in my service, the Lord spoke more clearly with the second question. Actually, something He's been saying for awhile, just taking me longer to listen to. This area refers to Loving Him. We've all heard the verse "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength." Mark 12:30. After studying what this verse truly means through a class I'm taking, the last part of that verse is to love the Lord with all our strength. Strength refers to our will. What this means to me is that I don't fully love the Lord when I sin (and know that I'm sinning). When the Lord reveals truth to us personally we need to fully love him by obedience to that. Jesus plainly states, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching." John 14:23. YIKES, that's a hard verse to swallow.

So, the area that I'm not being obedient to? The media. Our culture is so saturated in the media that we don't even see the wrong in it, including me. Years ago I started watching some of the most popular shows: The Bachelor, The Bachelorette, Grey's Anatomy, and CSI/Crime Shows. As time goes on I feel the Lord saying its time to weed out "junk" to fully serve Him. That means - turn the TV off when my favorite show comes on. I have been fighting this for about 2 years now. Each new season I think "I'm not going to watch it." But then I'm bored and turn the TV on and get "hooked" again. My excuse to my husband, "Oh, just let me finish the season and I won't start next..." He tries to remind me that I don't need to watch it.

I've struggled with this revelation. Am I being legalistic or is it a matter of purity? I've come to the conclusion it is a matter of purity. Paul says it this way "Finally brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received from me, or seen in me - put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you." Philipplians 4:8-9. If I break it down into what I'm "thinking on" while watching these shows, here's the list:

Sex is ok to have with whoever you want and whenever you want (teens, married people committing adultery, unmarried, etc)
Murder is entertainment
Men and Women are coming on to reality TV shows and having their dirty laundry aired on national TV - probably ruining them for a long time, if not forever
Unrealistic "dates" and "love" that later turns sour when the fantasy of it all is over

And all of this to be "entertained" in an evening. I don't believe this is in any way honoring to the Lord or His ways.

Another example: Watching a funny family show last night and I have to monitor the commercials because all the new shows are dealing with the occult. Not to mention they are just plain creepy for me to have to see, let alone my 4 and 6 year old.

I encourage you to examine what you watch and read. Does it promote premarital sex? Are you being entertained by murder or occult practices? If the answer is "yes", ask the Lord to help you purify your heart, mind and life. And I will be doing the same!