Only So Much Time...
...and we do not know how much. A dear friend of mine is 101. Seems like a long time, but Grandma Crews will tell you that it has passed quickly.
There are times when I look at the second hand on a clock and listen to the click as it moves tick by tick to make a minute. The exercise reminds me that life is passing even when I am standing still. Each tick of the second hand brings me closer to the end of life in this mortal sphere.
Valuing time is essential for those who aspire to godly successes. Determining priorities is fundamental to the development of a life plan including successes.
Every choice inherently denies or rejects other options. Making choices is unavoidable. Lack of willful decisions is a willful decision to not make a decision, essentially a decision to go with the flow. Action is a decision. Inaction is a decision not to act. Choice.
Choices have been made in recent weeks regarding reading and viewing. Jesus has become a favorite subject of authors and movie producers. With about 100 million “evangelicals” in the United States, and with the growing “pop” culture of interest in Pentecostal/Charismatic practice and theology, interest in religion continues to increase.
Scores of books are being written about Jesus. For every book rejecting the Jesus of the Bible there seems to be a response by one or more authors arguing the deity of Jesus Christ. Hollywood is also looking to the economic market of religion.
Mel Gibson’s mega block-bluster “The Passion of The Christ” fueled the fire. Grossing hundreds of millions of dollars, greed came to the surface. Hollywood was delighted that for the first time millions of evangelicals and Pentecostals paid full price to enter public theaters and watch a religious movie labeled “R.” Only a few years ago most evangelicals and Pentecostals advocated strongly against going to public theaters.
Psychologists were retained to study the audiences that were drawn to see “The Passion of The Christ.” The big question is how to develop advertising that will bring back the audiences that saw “The Passion of The Christ.”
Even “The Passion of The Christ,” a movie that portrayed Christ in a positive manner, did not result in a great revival. No churches seemed to be born as a result of the movie. People may have been moved and affected as they watched and still remember the movie, but I cannot testify to witnessing one person dramatically changing behavior or beliefs as a consequence of “The Passion of The Christ.”
Here we are in another moment of obsession. Hype has been built for “The Da Vinci Code.” Newspapers have written more about the coming movie than was published about Christmas or Easter. It would seem that the producers must be glad for the millions of dollars of free advertising on TV, radio, and in newspapers and magazines.
Here are a few things to think about. We only get to spend our money one time. I will keep mine when it comes to the movie “The Da Vinci Code.” There are millions of believers in other countries without a TV or theater. They will not see this movie or any other. Yet, they will go to heaven.
The clock is ticking. Time is precious.
In valuing life, it is not my wish to expose my mind to direct attacks against Jesus, His deity, and the most basic doctrines of the Bible. It is not required of me by God to sift through a ton of filth for entertainment. Would I go to a movie about my wife that accused her of degrading sins that would profane our marriage? Would I sit quietly and be entertained by accusations calling her a liar, an adulteress, a deceiver, and person of lust? How would such an experience prove her love to me, or deepen my love for her?
Choice has been made. I have not read the book. I will not see the movie. There are simply too many good books to read that I have not read. There are too many places to go that I have not gone. There are too many good ways to spend my money and honor God. We are not commanded by God to read everything written with His or His Son’s name in it, but we are commanded to read and study His Word (2 Tim 3:16 & 17).
The mind is a fragile thing. Preserving sanity and a sanctified spirit is a consequence of choice. Wise choices value time. “Life is not measured by duration, but donation.”
You only have so much time. Tick. Tick. Tick.
Prayerfully,
Pastor Bare