Have your eyes adjusted to the darkness?

The other morning I awoke at 4AM and could not get back to sleep. So, I decided to get out of bed and go sit in my Devotionarium for some quiet time with my Abba Father.

When I walked out in the living room it was pitch black, save for a few night lights to guide me. I sat down at my table and clicked on my lamp. It was so bright it was offensive to my eyes, so I clicked it back off and sat in the dark. I prayed for about a half hour with my eyes closed and when I opened them around 4:30, I was surprised at how well I could see the room. It was almost as if additional lights had been turned on during my prayer time. In truth, my eyes had just adjusted to the darkness and the room now appeared “lighter” to me.

It made me think about my walk in this world and I thought to myself, “Have my eyes adjusted to the darkness?” By that I mean, are there things I’m watching or reading or allowing access to my spirit that perhaps I should not be? I recently watched the documentary on Fred Rogers, the infamous Children’s Programming television icon, Mr. Rogers. He was a fierce proponent of truth and love being pumped out over the TV waves and he said this, which struck a deep cord in me;

“What we see and hear on the screen is part of who we become.” – Fred (Mr.) Rogers

Wow. That is a deep and frightening truth. What is most frightening about it is the increased amount of our screen interactions these days, especially compared to when Fred Rogers made that comment. At that time, screens were almost solely TV. Now add to that Computer, Phone, Video Game, Tablet and Movie Screens and you realize we have SO many more screens to combat these days. Not only that, but there is much MORE junk on those screens than at any other time in our collective history.

So, it begs the question, what are you allowing to “become a part of you” via your screens? Are you perusing Facebook and opening doors to envy and jealousy? Are you clicking on bait links when surfing the web and opening doors to gossip and hate filled speech? Are you watching TV shows with evil, dark or wholly inappropriate themes and directly opening doors to fear and anxiety? Are you playing video games that involve killing other people and opening the door to devaluing human life?

Don’t be fooled that a particular show with infidelity or lewd sex scenes is OK because it’s not as bad as that other show. That is your eyes adjusting to the darkness.

Don’t think that a movie that trails into and glorifies the demonic side of the realm is just all make believe hype. That is your eyes adjusting to the darkness.

Don’t think that scrolling through and reading every negative news story on Facebook or your News Feed has zero effect on your heart and mind. That is your eyes adjusting to the darkness.

Rather than thinking what you watch makes no difference, I encourage you to make conscious choices about where you direct your attention and what you watch. I have been adjusting this in my life for a few years and honestly I’m at a point where there are not that many shows I can watch. I say “can” because I have learned that if I allow myself to watch the “dark” shows it affects my spirit. It weighs heavy on my heart. I have come to identify that feeling as an indicator that I am grieving the Holy Spirit within me.

That’s the bottom line. If you are a believer in Jesus, you are never alone while watching a TV show or movie, etc. Imagine Jesus sitting next to you when you sit down to watch your favorite programs or movies. Did that give you pause? If it did, it’s time to investigate your watch history and make some changes.

If I do sit and watch TV these days, you’ll find me watching clean programming that makes me laugh. That or nature documentaries that make me Praise God in Awe of His Creation. I don’t watch the news, at ALL. In fact, I call it the “bad news”. That might make me a bit out of touch with the “current events” in our world, but it keeps me in touch with the Creator of The Universe and I’ll opt for that trade any day.

So, I encourage you to join me on a journey of cleaning up your mind, heart and spirit by choosing what you allow into your eyeballs. After all, what you watch is directly related to how you think and as a wise book once said…

“As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.” Prov 23:7