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Key Bible Verse: "He prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more" (John 15:2). Bonus Reading: John 15:1-8

Sometimes we treat entertainment as a right. But as I dug into God's Word, I knew I had to stop trying to figure out how much poison I could get away with.

I'd been renting movies so often that I'd bend my own standards because I "needed" to find something to watch. Now I wait until there's a film worth viewing—something for which I can thank God—before I rent or go to the movies. Even if we're the only ones who don't see the latest summer blockbuster movie, we'll be all right. I'm watching a lot fewer movies and, when I do watch, it's more of a treat. And lust has far less strength.

I've also cut out most television. My wife and I were in the habit of watching a weekly show that often featured the main female character in immodest outfits and ungodly situations. It was having a deadening effect on my soul. There's no such thing as "must-see TV." We cut off our little routine and put the TV in the basement. Now we read a book together or visit friends.

If walking with God and pleasing Him means seriously cutting back on my media intake, it's no real sacrifice.

—Joshua Harris in Not Even a Hint

My Response: My life would be better balanced if I displaced some media entertainment with …

Thought to Apply: The answer [to TV] is more families who'll turn off the trash, boycott the sponsors, and hold the executives responsible for making money from glorifying violence and human degradation.—BILL BRADLEY

Adapted from Not Even a Hint (Multnomah, 2003) by permission.

Copyright © 2006 by the author or Christianity Today International/Men of Integrity magazine. Click here for reprint information on Men of Integrity.

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Prayer for the Week

Help me, Lord, to jam those media voices that would drown out Your voice.

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