Satan in a Box

Can I just admit that I think the television is Satan in a box? I can hear Ridley now saying that is a bit extreme. This past week we have had the second week of home repairs due to the recent flood. We have had workers in and out every day. No sleeping late and no running around in pajamas. One particular repair required the flat screen t.v. to be taken off the wall. This was shortly after removing another television in the house as a result of our conviction to simplify. That has been on our heart for some time and we are slowing removing the "wood, hay and stubble". (1Corinthians 3:12)

So, we are down to 2 televisions for the 6 of us and 1 is in our bedroom. You would think we have asked our children to cut off one of their limbs. Me? I have never been a big t.v. watcher except for sports. I honestly think part of it was that in the past, my house was noisy and a "walk on eggshells" environment. I can assure you, when I was married before, I did not need to watch Lifetime where the wives were having their husbands taken out. I loved to listen to music and found that listening to worship music helped me to be more responsible and focused with my thoughts.

Now if I watch television, it is to sit next to my sweet husband, but we continue to be amazed at the junk that pops up on t.v. I am also amazed at what my kids try to revolve their schedules around. Notice I said "try to". We monitor what our kids watch and we do not allow t.v.'s in their bedrooms. When they do watch t.v., they look like zombies and we never see them. They used to split up in every corner of the house (where there was a t.v.) and hibernate.

Well, with only 2 televisions I got a little excited that our family might be able to have more conversations and play games or something else. It has backfired on me. Ha ha.... The kids are now all piled in my bed late at night and a few of them even choose to drool over the food commercials or Man vs. Food while commenting that "mom never lets us eat that".

I got to thinking about what it would have been like if there were t.v.'s back in Jesus' time. Imagine the disciples telling Jesus to hang on before feeding the 5,000 because they needed to watch the Food Network first. I doubt that Rahab needed to watch Say Yes to the Robe. Can you picture Zacchaeus watching Repo Man? I do know that all the girls would have gotten a rose from Jesus because he didn't play favorites.

I do love a good football game and i enjoy watching some of the HGTV shows every now and then. I guess I am just becoming more and more aware of how evil can creep into our lives. Our sinful nature has a strong enough pull all on its own. Plus, Psalms 101:3 says "I will not set before my eyes anything that is worthless". Enough said!