Wednesday, June 22, 2005
Here's two unlikely words to be matched up - channel surfing. Of course, they have been matched up. Channel surfing refers, of course, to the practice of skipping from one channel to another to see what's on each one. Men have mastered that! Oh, we've got the most powerful thumbs in the world. When there were only a few channels, we didn't surf much, but look what cable has done. You've got dozens of channels to check out - hundreds sometimes. As you surf, you may get a glimpse of a sports channel, a food channel, a travel channel, then a movie channel, a country music channel, a nature channel, and of course, a home shopping channel. Increasingly, a lot of what you'll come upon is either raunchy or dumb or boring. Or, maybe you can't stand, let's say, country music. Or you fall asleep watching someone cook. Or you don't care about sports. Whatever, it's okay. You can't decide what's on each channel, but it's totally up to you what channel you watch!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Channel Choice."
Let's picture your heart as a TV set with lots of channels, offering you lots of options to watch. With that in mind, listen to our word for today from the Word of God in 1 Corinthians 10:6. God is talking, here, about some of His followers from earlier generations and the tragic mistakes they made. He doesn't want us to repeat those mistakes. Here's what it says: "These things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did." That was their fatal mistake. Before they did anything wrong, they set their heart on something evil. He goes on to give examples such as idolatry - that's letting something other than God get the best of your love. He talks about sexual sin - even grumbling - having a negative, discontented attitude.
A lot of channels flash across the TV of your heart each day; many of them you can't afford to stop and watch. Like any image or input or opportunity that encourages your sexual lust - as if your lust needed any more strengthening! You may not be able to help the fact that a sexual input came on your screen, but you totally decide whether or not it stays on your screen. You can't afford to dwell on anything that feeds your anger either, or your depression, or your complaining, something that feeds your worry, or your materialism, your greed, or your spending problem, or that feeds that sinful habit. Maybe that's why you've continued to struggle and maybe you've lost so much in that part of your life because you keep feeding it. You keep stopping to watch and listen to a channel that feeds the sinful side of you.
Later in 1 Corinthians 10:13, God gets real practical about how to beat a temptation that keeps beating you. He says, "He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear." There's no such thing as an irresistible temptation in the life of a child of God. "But when you are tempted, He will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it." A way out - the temptation channel comes on - you didn't choose that. But God says, "There's a way out. Know where your exits are. Know how to choose something else. Know how to immediately switch channels and you'll pre-choose that exit before that temptation ever arrives."
You know how defeated you feel when that temptation wins - how dirty you feel. It's a despairing thing to keep losing to it. When the people who feed the wrong side of you pop up on your screen, or the music, or the feelings, or the opportunity to fall again, switch the channel immediately. Don't "set your heart" on it.
Find a channel where Jesus is and set your heart to focus on Him.