This devotion was in my morning email and I thought it was too good not to pass along.
The focus is something I have mulled over for the past year or so about how media and society influence culture. It only takes watching 30 minutes of network TV to see the shift of what is "acceptable" from even 20 years ago. Through repeated exposure to messages contrary to God's word, we can become desensitized to the standards and truth that we as Christians are to measure ourselves against.
August 17, 2011
Filtering Messages
By Michael Youssef, Ph.D.
When Daniel was being trained in the Babylonian palace, he was fed lies about spirituality and the meaning of life. Just as we face lies every day from our society, Daniel was being indoctrinated into the pagan culture in which he was held captive. Yet Daniel held on tightly to God's truth. God's Word permeated every ounce of Daniel's being, and he refused to let that go. And because God was the center of Daniel's identity, he did not lose focus.
Like Daniel, we must take every message we hear and filter it through God's Word. No matter how appealing a message may sound, or how often we hear it, if it does not bring glory to God we cannot let it in. We must discern the difference between man's truth and God's truth. We must recognize what will provide only temporary happiness and what will bring eternal joy.
If we fail to hold on to God's teachings, we will become vulnerable to worldly messages and lose our effectiveness for Christ. Make a commitment to understand thoroughly what you believe--and why. Spend time in God's Word and learn who you are as a child of God. Standing up for your beliefs will help you become a powerful tool for God.
Prayer: God, help me to spend more time in Your Word so that I will be confident in my beliefs and will be able to easily filter the messages I receive on a daily basis through Your Word. Give me discernment to be able to recognize the difference between man's truth and Your truth. Amen.
"And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ" (Philippians 1:9-10).
