Friday, August 7, 2009

Entertaining Thoughts (Loving God with Our Minds)

en-ter-tain-ment (noun) - agreeable occupation for the mind; diversion; amusement
-dictionary.com

Photo courtesy of alles-schlumpf

Oh boy! As if I haven't gotten myself in enough trouble! God wants us to love Him with our minds? Our entertainment?! Big ouch. As I talked about in the junk food post, it is easy to fall into the trap of non-edifying entertainment. We live in an amusement-obsessed culture and are inundated with media everywhere we go. Technology has made it even more available and more attractive. Gordon MacDonald in the classic, Ordering Your Private World, gives us the literal meaning of amusement: functioning without thought. Some people, even in the Bible times, knowing the dangers of wrong or excessive entertainment; decided to cut it out altogether. I don't think that is a good option. God made life to be enjoyed, and there are plenty of ways to enjoy life in a God-honoring way. However, do we endlessly amuse ourselves with entertainments that require absolutely no thought? If we do, how is that glorifying to God?

Then there are our thoughts. What do we think about? Do our thoughts honor God?

Much of what I said about the body yesterday can be applied to our minds. I won't repeat all the principles of discipline and moderation. However, I do want to leave you with some links and a challenge as we wrap up this series on Loving God With Our All.

  • Michelle at She Looketh Well talks about Controlling Our Thoughts in Marriage
  • Homemaker Barbi tells us how to entertain our children without TV and video games here and here
  • An excellent resource for Christian reviews on popular media *Note: Everyone's standards are different and God deals with us all at different times, so I realize this isn't the final authority on entertainment, but it can be a tool to evaluate it for ourselves and for our kids.
  • Book: Ordering Your Private World by Gordon MacDonald, particularly the chapter on the mind.
Challenge: Do ONE THING this weekend to make your mind healthier. Read a book that stretches your brain or teaches you something. Take a class. I don't care what it is, but make sure it is spiritually edifying as well as intellectually healthy. E-mail me about it. I'd love to hear it!

1 comment:

  1. Hi Lady Jen,
    This is a little late in coming as I am reading this on Aug. 18th but I was checking out your blog subjects, etc.
    I am taking a one stroke painting class & I am so excited. My husband works with wood so I have longed to learn how to paint so I could decorate his wood projsects. Just a little something to help stimulate my getting older mind. Of course I am trying to keep up with my blog, too even though it is not an everyday thing and really not certain days-----just when I think of something that may be sily or interesting or spiritual. Love your blog.
    Pink Ribbon (Sharon)

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