Spiritual Spring Cleaning

In James 1:27 we learn that "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."

Watching that video yesterday reminded me, once again, how very important it is, especially in the times in which we live, to be firmly grounded in the Truth. I don't really watch TV much anymore for that reason. I am convinced that there is not much "Truth" on TV.

I believe our spirits are like sponges, and, as Christians, the Bible teaches us to keep ourselves from being polluted by the world. I have noticed that since I have cut many things out of my "diet," the Word of God and biblical teachings can much more easily penetrate and resonate with my Spirit. In other words, I have eliminated a lot of the competition (or pollution) from my spiritual diet, and the results have been life-changing.

I certainly am not being legalistic and saying that no one should watch TV or anything, because I don't think absolutley everything on TV is awful. I am just sharing a spiritual truth which has been life-changing for me. I am not anti-media either. Christians need to be aware of things going on in the world around them. I do enjoy reading news stories on the Internet and I spend a fair amount of time researching topics of interest and answers to questions online as well. I do realize I have to be careful on the Internet, but I kind of feel like I am being proactive in that regard as opposed to just "vegging" out in front of the boob tube and allowing trash (whether obvious or not so obvious) to seep into my soul.

I have made two rather interesting observations:

• I once read that a person begins to crave the very things they feed themselves. It is interesting to note that ever since I began to read and study the Word more than I watched TV, my appetite for TV almost disappeared completely. Honestly, I don't really ever think about watching TV......but I'll tell you what does dominate my thoughts- practical spiritual applications to the real life situations I continually encounter.
• As I continually strive to keep my spirit from being polluted, when I do unintentionally encounter things which I know are offensive to God, I am hyper-sensitive to them and almost repulsed. Almost without exception, I am taken back to a time in my life and reminded that the very things that now cause the little hairs on the back of my neck to stand up, at one time, could have gone virtually unnoticed, been totally ignored, been rationalized and deemed acceptable and maybe even celebrated (OUCH!).

I invite Followers of Christ to heighten your awareness of what may be competing with biblical Truth in your life. Don't be deceived into thinking that you can allow pollutants to infiltrate your spirit without consequence. Contrary to what Oprah may think, when it comes to His relationship with you, God is, indeed, a jealous God! God does not like it when we allow filth and dirt to compete with His Pure, Refreshing & Transforming Truth in our spirits.

So ask yourself this question: If my spirit were a sponge, which one would it resemble most?


Saturate Your mind with Truth! Now there's a simple formula for Spiritual Spring Cleaning!