The season of sappy holiday movies is over and done with. For me it is over and done with for good.
My internet-based TV provider had one of the lifestyle networks as a free offering in December. In times I wanted entertainment, I began watching the movies. Gradually, I began to see the stories fall into a few categories.
The first was outright lust-based fare that showcased women who sought out who is attractive enough to sleep with even if they didn’t want a long-term relationship. Those were quickly turned off – that is not who I am in Christ Jesus.
The second was “some man hurt me and I don’t trust any of them” followed by seeking some version of perfection that cannot possibly be sustained by imperfect people. Unreality at its best. These were somewhat harder to recognize but dismissed as soon as the truth dawned.
A third was “if I keep trying over and over again, I’ll eventually get it right.” These are sometimes based in the fantasy that we can go back and remake our lives via a time warp. Cute at first but annoying in their perfect and unsatisfying endings for anyone who lives in reality. Similar are serial relationships that keep repeating the mistakes of the past – depressing because of the lack of growth in the main characters.
The most infrequently seen category is one where people of faith want the best for others as well as themselves and are led by God to create/recreate relationships that are whole, healthy, and sustainable. Finding these uplifting stories is difficult if not impossible on most networks. Being a grownup apparently is not attractive to movie writers/producers.
What I found for myself is that all but the last category are actually emotional pornography. They set me up to think wrongly and entertain ideas that contradict my faith. I realized that if I wouldn’t watch sexually explicit pornography, neither should I be viewing the offerings that preyed on my soul, triggering my imagination to go places I don’t belong. There are many better ways to spend my time, even if it is simply turning on Christian music and letting God’s word in song minister to my spirit and soul. I’m taking Paul’s advice:
Philippians 4:8 Finally, believers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable and worthy of respect, whatever is right and confirmed by God’s word, whatever is pure and wholesome, whatever is lovely and brings peace, whatever is admirable and of good repute; if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think continually on these things [center your mind on them, and implant them in your heart].
Amplified Bible (AMP) Copyright © 2015 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, CA 90631. All rights reserved.
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