[Thursday's Devotional] - A call to Diet

Today I am talking about food - not the kind of things we eat and drink to fill our stomach, but the food that comes in through our ears and eyes and fills our minds.  Soul food, if you like.

We are influenced by visual and audible stimuli wherever we go and whatever we do.  Sometimes we allow ourselves to be exposed (or choose to expose ourselves) to wrong influences.  In my experience, this has had a negative impact on my judgement and my moral compass.  Living a life of integrity is hard in the modern world – we are exposed to wrong desires, wrong values, wrong habits and wrong responses in many of the things we watch or listen to.

Bad "food" does you harm – listen to what Solomon says in Proverbs:

Can a man carry fire next to his chest and his clothes not be burned?
Or can one walk on hot coals and his feet not be scorched?  Proverbs 6:27-28 [ESV]

Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools suffers harm.
Proverbs 13: 20 [NRSV]

Call to Action: DIET

Think about your influence intake today.  Choose carefully what you watch on TV, where you look on the internet, what books or magazines you read.  Perhaps you can replace one activity (watching a regular TV programme, for example) with something else (a conversation or a meal with a friend or a game with your family).

PRAY

LORD, your word is good food for my soul.  Help me to resist bad influences and seek your word and the wise words of those who walk with you.  In Jesus name, Amen.

Dave MacLellan

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