“But to all who
believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. They
are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but
a birth that comes from God.”
John 1:12-13(NLT)
A few weeks ago, I found myself in
an extremely awkward situation. I was
with a group of Christian women talking about the struggles of motherhood. As we sat sharing, one of the ladies began to
cry, the obvious weight of her many roles and responsibilities had taken a toll
on her. But, as she gained her
composure, and explained her emotional response, her words hit me like a ton of
bricks. She attributed her heightened
sensitivity to a very popular “romance” novel that’s just about everywhere these
days. The next thing I knew, I was in
the middle of a conversation that made my toes curl and my cheeks blush. I
excused myself as fast as I could, but not before I heard the woman say something
that completely broke my heart. Despite
her assertions that the book was something she “just couldn’t put down,” she
also admitted that she would never allow her teenage daughter to read the book
because she knew how detrimental it would be to her mental and spiritual
well-being.
For the entire day, these words
played over and over in my mind. I
replayed the entire conversation dozens of times, always regretting that I
didn’t say anything about how inappropriate the conversation was… not to
mention the book itself. Usually, boldness, in these situations, isn’t
something I shy away from… but, I soon realized that my inability to speak was
God’s way of convicting me of my own sin in a very similar area.
That night, while putting away the
dishes, God gently stirred my spirit to the truth of His Word. He rested upon my heart His true desire for
all of us… to realize that we are His children. Just as the mother, earlier
that morning, wanted to protect her daughter from the depravity of that book,
God also wants to protect us from the depravity of the world. He sees each of us just as that mother sees
her child. He wants to protect us, just
as that mother wanted to protect her daughter. Instantly, I was flooded with thoughts
of times where I have “shooed” my children out of the room because I was
watching something that I considered inappropriate for them… wondering if it
was also inappropriate for me.
(Obviously, there are some things that are simply inappropriate due to
the age of a child and their ability to understand adult subject matter, but
this is not what I’m referring to here.
Instead, I’m focusing on the things of this world that promote sinful
desires and the corruption of our minds.)
I began to think about the songs I listen to when I run, the television
shows and movies I watch when the kids are in bed, the magazines I gloss over
at the check-out line.
The following week, when I saw the
mother again, I asked to have a private word with her and I revealed the things
that God had placed on my heart… and why.
It was a very difficult conversation that I prayed about for the entire
week… that I had others pray about as well.
My prayer was that I would not come across as judgmental and
self-righteous, but that God’s grace and mercy would reveal a heart that was
convicted by this woman’s honestly and vulnerability; that it would be clear
that God used her to reveal a bitter truth about the condition of my own heart
and the weakness of my flesh. And, I’m
happy to say that God was most definitely glorified that morning, as we shared
our thoughts about our responsibilities as mothers and our sometimes forgotten
love as children of the most amazing Father.
Challenge
Spend time thinking about your desires
to protect loved ones from the corruption of this world. Do you guard your own heart and mind from
that same corruption… or do you fall for Satan’s lie? He wants us to believe
that we can withstand the temptation; that we know the difference between right
and wrong, true and false… and that we can separate the two. He wants us to
fill our heads with the things of this world, all the while, whispering in our
ears that it’s okay. But what we forget
is that as we continue filling our lives with these lies, we desensitize
ourselves to the truth. The reality
shows we watch, over time, become more crass, the books we read become more
salacious. We become immune, which is
part of Satan’s plan.
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