the Third Week after Easter
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Daily Devotionals
Truths to Live By - One Day at a Time
“Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity.”
The first and last words of this short prayer begin with the letters TV, and the verse is especially appropriate when applied to television. Most of the programs on TV are vanity. They picture a world that doesn’t exist and a life that is far removed from reality.
Television is a robber of precious time. Watchers squander hours that can never be retrieved. Generally speaking, TV has caused a decline in Bible reading, thus tuning out the voice of God and lowering the spiritual temperature of viewers without their realizing it.
The harmful effects of TV on children are well known. Their morals are corrupted because violence is glorified, sex is glamorized and pornography is publicized. The children suffer educationally, finding neither time nor desire to read or to write. Their values are determined by what they see on the screen, and their entire thinking is molded by anti-Christian propaganda.
The humor that is served up on the tube is filthy, and most of the rest of the script is filled with vile innuendos.
The advertising is not only stupid but morally destructive as well. It seems that nothing can be sold without a bevy of Hollywood harlots exposing vast portions of their anatomy and using body language to incite lust.
In many families TV has caused a breakdown of communications. Members are so captivated by the programs that they no longer carry on constructive conversations with one another.
In the area of music, the lyrics are often highly objectionable. They glorify lust, treat adultery and homosexuality as valid lifestyles, and make a hero of the violent man.
If it be objected that there are wholesome Christian programs on the TV, the answer is that these are only the sugar coating on a poison pill. The plain fact is that the overall effect of TV is destructive of spiritual vitality.
A Christian had ordered a television set to be delivered to his home. When he saw the truck pull up out front, he noticed the advertising on the side of the truck, “TV brings the world into your living room/’ That was all he needed. He had the set returned to the store.
No one who sits glued to the television set will ever make history for God. It is one of the principle causes of spiritual decline in our day.
'Truths to Live By - One Day at a Time' Copyright 2007 © William MacDonald. 'Truths to Live By - One Day at a Time' articles may be reproduced in whole under the following provisions: 1) You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use. You may not use the material for commercial purposes. If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you may not distribute the modified material.
