Meg's Miscellaneous Monday Mentions

It's Monday night, and therefore a little late, but I think I still scrape in on a technicality, right?




Well, this week, I have 2 fantastic but oh-so-challenging posts to direct you to. First up is a hard hitting, sledge hammer between the eyes, no holds barred post over at Desiring God. It is a ripper of an article written by Ben Reaoch, pastor of Three Rivers Grace Church in downtown Pittsburgh, PA. The title of his post is "12 Sins We Blame on Others". Yep, I told you it was going to hit you between the eyes! I was so convicted by this post and so shocked at the truths written in just one short piece of writing.




In short, these 12 sins we blame others for, according to Ben Reaoch are: Anger, impatience, lust, anxiety, spiritual apathy, insubordination, a critical spirit, bitterness, gluttony, gossip, self-pity and selfishness.




I don't know about you, but I can unfortunately confess that I have at one time or other, blamed someone else for almost all of these sins in my own heart. Whether it be blaming my anger on another who has hurt me, or justifying my anxiety because I obviously have a lot of stress going on in my life. Just this week, I have had to apologise to my children several times for my great impatience and frustration that I have displayed to them. Excusing my sin by blaming it on their behaviours and my own exhaustion does not cut it with the Lord, but I hate to admit how often I can be guilty of this. I would strongly encourage you all to read this article and be open to the Lord if He is leading you to repent of blaming others for your own choices to sin.


And secondly, this next post has an equally hard message to swallow, one that I found very challenging and convicting again. Boundless Web zine, a Focus on the Family site, has posted a very challenging message called "Inured", regarding the issue of our choice of movies and TV.

Ahhh, I hear the sighs, the rolling of the eyes and the defences raising... but before you write it off (and me) as a conservative, narrow minded Christian who can't appreciate good art and entertainment, I would encourage you to at least read the article and pray about whether you think this is an area in which you may not be completely honouring the Lord in.



The article predominantly deals with the fact that we, as a society and even within the church, have become so desensitized to what we see and hear in movies and on TV that things are rarely as shocking as they should be to us as Christians.



Within the comments section of the article, someone has written this brilliant quote by John Piper regarding his views on his choices of movies:

He said, "My parents almost never went to movies, and I almost never go to movies. The reason is very simple: there are almost no movies that don't ask me to be entertained by attitudes, motives, and actions which Jesus died to eradicate. My heart will not allow me to be entertained by worldliness."

Extreme? Maybe. Or maybe it's that we have become so numb to the sin in our own hearts that we are no longer shocked when we see others acting out that same sin that Jesus died for on the Cross, on the TV screen. I pray that the Lord would lead you in wisdom and Godliness as you seek to lead your families in making wise choices for your entertainment and recreation.