Think on lovely things... - Phil. 4:8

"...whatever is true, whatever is noble,

whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely,

whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or

praiseworthy - think about such things"

My mother said it differently...she always told me "if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all".  The child's song says:

                                     

                                        "Oh be careful little eyes what you see,

                                          Oh be careful little ears what you hear,

                                          For the Father up above is looking down in love

                                          Oh be careful little eyes what you see."

You might say: "garbage in, garbage out".  The Scripture says it like this: "We demolish arguments and every pretention that sets itself up against the knowledge of God and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ" (2 Corinthians 10:5).

In case you haven't noticed, there are a lot of "unlovely" things to watch and read out there.  I find myself more and more unable to tolerate what's in print or on the television...pictures stay in my head and often what stays in my head is thought about a lot.

So, my summer reading will not be including E.L. James' FIFTY SHADES OF GREY.  Mary Kassian, a respected Christian speaker/author, wrote on Revive our Hearts why she will not be reading it.  I think it is worth repeating.  Here are her 7 reasons:

1.  It violates God's design for sex.

2.  It violates the biblical concept of authority.

3.  It violates the biblical concept of submission.

4.  It encourages the sin of sensuality.

5.  It promotes sexual perversion.

6.  It glamorizes pathological relationships.

7.  You won't get it out of your head.

I don't have to experience something for myself to know the danger of the experience.  Dannah Gresh, in a similar article, says:

                     "God has given me more than fifty shades of truth in His word

                     and when just one of them is in conflict with my entertainment

                     choices, I choose to pass!"

There are a lot of things we don't have choices in, but for the life of me I can't figure out why women would want to read such books.  As for me, I will choose to read things that honor God rather than grieve Him.  Respect yourself more than supporting those things that describe severe emotional and physical pain.  Choose to "think on lovely things...".

For further study:  Genesis 2:24, Psalm 33:13-15, Psalm 119:37, 127-128, Proverbs 4:23, Proverbs 22:5, 1 Corinthians 6:18-20, 1 Corinthians 13:4-7, 1 Thessalonians 4:3-8, Hebrews 13:4, 1 John 2:15-17.

Our pillow open house is this Thursday from 1 to 5...you are all invited!

Be blessed in your understanding of God's word!

Love,

Holly