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Key Bible Verse: Stop loving this evil world and all that it offers you (1 John 2:15). Bonus Reading: 1 John 2:15—17

When we watch a film, we put aside for a time the fact that we're sitting in seats, popcorn and drink in hand, staring at images projected on a screen. We willingly suspend our disbelief and let the projections take us to another world.

My friend Paul loves action films like The Last of the Mohicans, Braveheart, and The Matrix. He arranged for "the boys" to go to a late night showing of Gladiator. During the trailers, however, several teenage girls sat right behind us; their whispering and giggling was too much for Paul, so he moved several rows in front of us to watch the movie. At the end of the film, when the hero lay dead in the arena and the Roman senator asks, "Who will carry this soldier?"—Paul raised his hand.

The next night he called me and wanted to go back again to "that world" of the Roman coliseum. Has that ever happened to you? The movie ends, and you just sit there not wanting to leave the characters you've gotten to know and the events you've experienced with them. But since art, like religion, is concerned with values, meaning, and visions of life, it should come as no surprise that the two often clash head-on.

—William Romanowski in Eyes Wide Open

My Response: What might my "must-see" heroes indicate about the values I really prize?

Thought to Apply: At the present time, the cinema acts far more effectively as opium of the people than does religion.—ALDOUS HUXLEY (English author)

Adapted from Eyes Wide Open (Brazos, 2001) by permission.

Prayer for the Week

Lord, the entertainment I'm exposed to could easily deflect my mind and heart from Your truth. Help me make sound choices.

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