Movies!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have purposefully withdrawn myself from seeing any movies this month to see what effect it would have on my life. As I meditated on this subject today I came upon a revelation. What is so bad about movies? I knew that there was something wrong with watching certain movies, but I didn't know what. That is why I did this, because I wasn't sure if they benefited me, or if I could go without them and still be the person God wants me to be. So what's the revelation?

Drum roll please!
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Hah! It's not the frequent swearing, violence, and nudity that makes movies bad. What makes movies bad is that we don't watch them with a critical mind, and we don't watch them to find a way to get closer to God. I'm not saying that swearing, violence, and nudity aren't wrong - they are very wrong. What I am trying to say, is the fact that when we do not bring God to see a movie with us... when we don't go with the purpose of learning something new, or seeing a concept from someone else's viewpoint, then we open ourselves up to the gross things or this world and allow ourselves to be desensitized by the world, becoming more susceptible to its gilded sins. Furthermore, if I don't think that I will learn something from a movie, then I don't think that it would be beneficial to my relationship with God. Therefore, why watch it?

Movies that I have thought beneficial to watch...
-The Skulls
-Remember the Titans
-Braveheart
-Gladiator
-Lord of the Rings
-Dead Poets Society
-Glory
There are others that I can't think of
Some movies I find to be in between and am not sure if they were beneficial
Some just don't have anything to offer ßthese I suggest not to see.

-So, what is the greatest love? Is it sex? No. Is it emotional? No. Is it marriage? No. According to Jesus, the greatest love has nothing to do with these things. Jesus said, "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13). This means that the greatest kind of love that anyone could have for another being would be to die for the sake of his/her friend.

-To most of us, it does not directly apply in its most literal sense, but when "die" or "lay down his life" is used in a symbolic sense, it means to put others' lives before oneself. However, the most literal sense would be the greater of the two actions. Jesus did this. He not only did it for those who were his current friends, but for everyone, because he saw that everyone has the potential to be his friend, or for his Father to “adopt” us. Ephesians 1:4-7 explains this well. Here is the verse if you wish to study it. “For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will -- to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.”

Happy Valentines Day!

If Jesus died for us knowing that we were still sinners, and if Jesus died for sinners, how should we react to sinners? Shouldn't we also be willing to die for those who sin against us? To give our lives for them, that they might have another chance come to know Christ? Who knows, maybe they would repent if we died for them. Jesus didn't know who would repent, but he died knowing that his grace would be wasted, because most people wont repent.

O Lord, the house of my soul is narrow: enlarge it that thou mayest enter in. It is ruinous, O repair it! It displeases thy sight; I confess it, I know. But who shall cleanse it, or to whom shall I cry but unto thee? Cleanse me from my secret faults, O Lord, and spare they servant from strange sins.
-- St. Augustine

This prayer of St. Augustine is awesome! Though our soul displeases God at times, he is the only one who can cleans it and make us acceptable. That's what he does too. What great mercy! What great love! God's love for us is greater than his wrath for our sin. He will cleanse us if we ask.