Don’t Close Your Eyes—By Randy
“Do not be deceived: Bad company ruins good morals.”
1 Corinthians 15:33
One of my callings as a husband and a father is to be a protector of my family. Protection often gives a mental picture of being willing to get “physical” with someone that is threatening a member of your family. The truth is, being willing to fight someone on behalf of protecting your family is one of the easiest things in the world to do. The hard truth is that the most important ways I’m supposed to protect my family are the hardest things in the world to do. Especially when my family doesn’t like it.
I am reading a book for the second time called, “In the Arena of the Mind” by John Vandegriff. He writes about the importance of regulating what goes into our mind when he writes, “We need to use a mental regulator to regulate what comes into our minds” (69). The person who wants to be God’s man or woman must regulate what goes into their minds. If we don’t regulate what goes in, we will be filled with things that cause us to grow a hunger for things that displease God. When we grow a hunger for things that displease God, we start thinking and doing things that displease God. Tell me, how far down the path of displeasing God can a man or woman of God go before he/she stops being a man or woman of God? As for me, I’d rather not find out!
This last week, I was reading the book mentioned above, thinking about the scripture above, and then the thought came to me, “why are you continuing to watch Mash with your family?” Once you get past the fact that I just mentioned watching a 1970’s TV series with my family... The point is, one of the most common parts of the comedic themes of this show is that someone is sleeping with or lusting after someone else that isn’t their spouse. Oh, but it’s okay because they are at war and who can really blame them since they are under such distress…so the story goes. Remember, “bad company ruins good morals.” I decided that my family and I need to stop watching this show. I do not want to ruin my families’ good morals of faithfulness in marriage just because we enjoy watching that show together. Now just because we stop watching one show doesn’t mean my family will learn faithfulness in marriage. On the other hand, the Psalmist wrote, “Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers.” (Psalm 1:1). I truly believe we will be blessed by every decision we make to honor the Lord instead of choosing what’s more comfortable. Every time I close my eyes to “bad company” around my family (like this TV show), I am teaching them that they can spend time with bad influences and not become like them. The truth is, we do become like the company we keep. And I have a responsibility to protect my family by teaching them to keep good company. How about you?
Where is God calling you to protect your family?