Friday, March 21, 2014
Download MP3 (right click to save)
If you think about it, there are two words that's kind of unlikely would ever be matched up: channel and surfing. Channel surfing! Well, of course, that refers to the practice of skipping from one channel to another to see what's on each one. Drives my wife crazy! But everybody knows the man is the king of the remote, right? We are experts at that! Have master's degrees in that. Now, when there were only a few channels, we didn't surf much. But look what cable and satellite did! I mean, you've got dozens, maybe hundreds of channels to check out. And as you surf, you may get a glimpse of a sports channel, a travel channel, a food channel, a movie channel, and a country music channel, nature channel, and of course a home shopping channel. Let's really skip that one.
Increasingly, however, a lot of what you'll come on is either raunchy, or dumb, or boring, or maybe you can't stand 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 focus on. With that in mind, listen to our word for today from the Word of God from 1 Corinthians 10:6. God's talking here about some of His followers from earlier generations and the tragic mistakes they made, and He doesn't want us to repeat those mistakes.
Here's what it says: "Now 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. Then it goes on to give examples like idolatry-which basically is letting something other than God get the best of your love. He talks about sexual sins, 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, input or opportunity that encourages or feeds your sexual lust; as if your lust needed any more strengthening. You may not be able to help the fact that a sexual input flashes on the screen. But you can decide whether or not it stays on your screen.
You can't afford to dwell on anything that feeds your anger, or your depression, or your complaining; something that feeds your worry, or your materialism, your spending problem, or that sinful habit. Maybe that's why you've continued to struggle and you lose so much in that part of your life because you keep feeding it. You keep stopping to watch and listen to a channel that's feeding the dark side of you.
Well, later in 1 Corinthians 10:13, God gives real practical advice on 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. He goes on to say, "But when you are tempted, He will also provide a way out..." Those are the words, "a way out, so that you can stand up under it." A way out!
So the temptation channel comes on. You didn't choose that, but God says, "There's a way out." Know where your exits are, like they say on the airplane. Know how to choose something else, know how to immediately switch the channel. And you pre-choose your exit before the temptation ever arrives. "I know what I'm going to do if something pops up."
You know how defeated you feel every time that temptation wins, how dirty you feel, how ashamed? It's a despairing thing to keep losing to it. Well, when 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.