Fast Forward

I hate commercials! I mean I loath commercials...well, except the funny ones. I hate commercials so much that the little TV I do watch, I pre-record the shows so that I can fast forward through all of those stupid ads. I mean, they just play over and over and over again-the same old stuff!  Its almost as if marketing executives are trying to brainwash us or put us in some hypnotic trance!  Watching countless commercial after commercial wastes our time, and energy.

As diligent as I am to avoid commercials, I also need to diligent to avoid what I like to call "spiritual commercials." Spiritual commercials are those thoughts that pop into our head unexpectedly. For instance, I was looking out of the kitchen window while washing dishes the other day and observing the kids jump on the trampoline in the back yard. They laughed and jumped and I smiled at their enjoyment. Suddenly a thought popped into my mind about them being injured, which resulted in that thought going deeper to imagining even worse things that I don't even want to think of, much less type.  Where the heck did that come from? I was enjoying this beautiful story of my kids playing and was rudely interrupted by... a spiritual commercial. 

Unfortunately, I have not always been good at recognising those spiritual commercials for what they are-a blatant attack on my mind and emotions from the enemy. But when I read these words from our brother Paul in Philippians and 2 Corinthians, I am compelled to jump into action.

Philippians 4:8-9 reads, "Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. ⁹ Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you." (NIV Translation)

2 Corinthians 10:4-5 says, "We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments. ⁵ We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ." (NLT Translation)

Commercial interruption from a marketer that wants to brainwash you. He wants to rob you of your time, energy, joy, peace and anything else he can get his grubby little hands on.


So now what do I do? I do the same thing I do to any other commercial; I fast forward. I realize that like any other commercial-its a choice to sit through them and entertain what they are selling. That way I don't waste any time, energy, or attention on anything else, but instead enjoy the show.

Learning to sit at his feet.....