Sign up for our free newsletter:

Q. How do we guard our hearts in a culture like ours?

A. God gives his people two key tools for testing our choices within the popular culture:

The test of edification finds its roots in passages such as Romans 12:2, where Paul stresses that Christians are to let God change the way they think so that'll know what God wants them to do.

This test goes deeper than counting the nude scenes in a movie or the obscenities in a novel. It prompts us instead to ask whether God's Spirit has something specific to teach us through a particular cultural activity. What might I learn here that will help me better understand what it means to be created in the image of God? What can I uncover about the implications of the fall of humanity? What new dimension of Christ's redemption might I discover?

The test of thanksgiving is based on passages such as Colossians 3:17. We should be able to ask ourselves candidly about any activity in life: Can I thank God for this? If genuine thanksgiving to God isn't feasible, then neither is the activity itself an appropriate one for our time or attention.

Yet this test may not be applied off-handedly. We make a mockery of His law and of His mercy when we try to thank Him for behavior He plainly calls sinful. But if the lurid story of David and Bathsheba—full of adultery, intrigue, deceit, and murder—can teach us about our own darkness and God's goodness, then we're blessed with a hint of how God's Spirit might teach us to give thanks for the unlikliest of circumstances.

Joel Belz is a North Carolina publisher of Christian books and magazines.

Adapted from: Discipleship Journal (3-4/00) by permission.

Prayer for the Week

Dear God, I need Your Spirit's help to resist the sexual temptations all around me.

				Try an Issue of Men of Integrity Free! Name Street Address City/State/Zip E-mail Address No credit card required. Please allow 4-6 weeks for delivery. Offer valid in U.S. only. Click here for International orders. If you decide you want to keep Men of Integrity coming, honor your invoice for just $19.95 and receive five more issues, a full year in all. If not, simply write "cancel" across the invoice and return it. The trial issue is yours to keep, regardless. Give Men of Integrity as a gift Buy 1 gift subscription, get 1 FREE!

FREE Newsletter Sign up for the Men of Integrity Newsletter    RSS Feed   RSS Help