I have been listening to a sermon by Ravi Zacharias called “The Problem of Pleasure.” It has had a huge impact on me, and I thought you might enjoy reading the highlights too, so I am writing a little mini series about it. This is the third post. If you haven’t read the other two posts, you can catch up by clicking on these titles. Is Pleasure a Problem? Why the Fence?

We love entertainment and pleasure here in this country. Some live for it. And some entertainment is okay–in moderation, but if it is not balanced, it can quickly become an idol.

Andrew Fletcher said, “Let me write the songs of the nations, I don’t care who writes its laws.”

Can you see the results of that in our nation? What do we idolize? What/Who do we allow to influence us?

The Wealthy! The powerful! Movie stars! Musicians! Athletes!

A surgeon called a preacher late one night and asked for prayer. He said he was working in the ER when an unresponsive woman was brought in. He thought he could save her, but he knew he would have to act fast. Before he had a chance to put on his surgical gloves, he cut her chest open and hand massaged her heart trying to get it to start beating again. The ER staff worked on her for several minutes, but to no avail. She died.

While cleaning up, he noticed he had a very small cut on one of his fingers. The nurse rushed over to him, “Doctor, you have to see this.” As he walked over to where the woman’s personal things were, he saw what the nurse was referring to–a bag of needles and syringes. The woman was a drug addict. The surgeon stared at the bag in shock. Her blood was probably contaminated, and because of the cut on his hand, he could have contracted a serious disease.

The preacher asked him, “So you’re telling me if one tiny cut is exposed to diseased blood, it can infect the entire body?”

“Yes! It only takes a paper thin cut.”

 

And just like it only takes a paper thin cut to contaminate the body, it only takes paper thin cut to corrupt the soul. 

But here’s what we think. We are are big boys and girls. We can handle it. We can watch that TV show. We can listen to that music. We can look at that magazine. We can read that book. We can go to that place. We can eat/drink that substance. Surely it won’t affect us.

Ravi Zacharias says, “Be careful what you toy with. It will soon toy with you.” What we allow into our minds through our eyes and ears, affects us. And it will build ammunition whether for good or for bad.

There’s a song we used to sing at church when I was a little girl called, “Oh Be Careful, Little Eyes.”

Oh Be Careful, Little Eyes

O be careful little eyes what you see

O be careful little eyes what you see

There’s a Father up above

And He’s looking down in love

So, be careful little eyes what you see

 

O be careful little ears what you hear

O be careful little ears what you hear

There’s a Father up above

And He’s looking down in love

So, be careful little ears what you hear

 

O be careful little hands what you do

O be careful little hands what you do

There’s a Father up above

And He’s looking down in love

So, be careful little hands what you do

 

O be careful little feet where you go

O be careful little feet where you go

There’s a Father up above

And He’s looking down in love

So, be careful little feet where you go

 

O be careful little mouth what you say

O be careful little mouth what you say

There’s a Father up above

And He’s looking down in love

So, be careful little mouth what you say

There’s powerful truth in that song. Maybe children aren’t the only ones who need to be singing it.

I cannot tell you the number of times that the Lord has convicted me about the things I watch, read, listen to, say, etc.

Can I be candid? As Christians, there are books we should not read. There are shows we should not watch. There’s music we should not listen to. There are places we ought not go. There are words we should not say.

We must draw the line of resistance!

“Can a man scoop fire into his lap without his clothes being burned? Can a man walk on hot coals without his feet being scorched?” Proverbs 6:27-29

Can you play with fire and it not burn you?

Susanna Wesley had 19 children. Watch out Duggars! Her son John Wesley was a renown evangelist in the 1700’s.

One day John asked his mother to give him a definition of sin. Here’s what she said.

“Whatever weakens your reason, impairs the tenderness of your conscience, obscures your sense of God, or takes away your relish for spiritual things, in short, whatever increases the strength and authority of your body over your mind, that thing is sin to you, however innocent it may be in itself.”         ~Susanna Wesley

What a great rule of thumb to consider when we are faced with all the pleasures the world throws at us. But before we plunge our hands deep into its propositions, may this definition of sin be our safe guard, like surgical gloves for our souls.

“Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.”  Proverbs 4:23

It only takes a paper thin cut!