“For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light! For this light within you produces only what is good and right and true.” Ephesians 5:8-9
Romance novels were my absolute favorite back in high school. Mesmerized by the world’s idea of love, I wanted to be in a relationship so badly. Every heroine I’d read about was always some gorgeous high school babe, who would find herself in a daring relationship with someone insanely attractive and sadly nothing like Christ. I was obsessed with the idea of belonging to someone, being wined and dined, pushing the boundaries of my innocence and getting married so that I could obtain the same “love” that I read about in dozens of novels a year.
Since, I learned that some forms of entertainment just aren’t worth revisiting. The bible says, “For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light! For this light within you produces only what is good and right and true.” Ephesians 5:8-9 NLT
Sometimes we get so comfortable in God’s light and grace that we forget that Christ is the one who gives us the desire to be like Him. We develop this mentality that there are certain things that we can allow back into our lives because we’ve matured and grown in Christ or we’re nothing like we used to be. If we’re being honest with ourselves, then we would realize that our righteousness is not our own. That once we begin to live a life in the pursuit of God’s will that some things that we put down are meant to stay behind, never to be entertained again.
The novels that I used to read were filled with characters dominated by their lustful desires, pushing the boundaries of whatever beliefs they had and acting based on what would provide them the most pleasurable results. They did not fear God, and some of them blatantly questioned His existence. I remained in the dark throughout high school allowing my mindset to be inculcated with what the sexual aspect of marriage would be like, when “the one” would find me, picturing my life in the place of the heroine’s. It was a massive waste of time and kept me from truly being able to cultivate a real relationship with Christ.
It is God’s desire to hold us close each and every day, protecting us from the things that we cannot see ourselves. Destruction, heartbreak, sexual immorality, low self-esteem, and senseless violence are just a few things that God is trying to protect us from. Through the death and resurrection of Christ we are able to be as close to God as we desire and truly live a life that is “good and right, and true!”
Prayer: Abba I thank you that your light shines within me, giving me the desire to live in the perfect will that you have for my life. I pray that you will show me the things of darkness that I am entertaining and escort me to the way of escape that you’ve provided. Allow me to be sensitive to your Holy Spirit, ruling out what is and isn’t acceptable for me to entertain. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.
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