Between

I'm sitting here in the living room, staring at my laptop screen. That's because the TV is on and I have given up television for Lent. "Then why is the TV on, Bob?" Well, I may have given up watching television for Lent, but my wife hasn't.

Because I have not given up being with my wife for Lent, I spend a lot of time watching "other things" while my wife watches TV. I watch my dinner plate closer than probably any person ever has. I watch my phone, waiting for texts from friends that don't come often enough. I watch the pages of God's Word, although it's hard to focus on Israel wandering through the desert as my wife cheers on her favorite celebrity dancers. Television sucks.

Oh, television had its moments. Watching Neal Armstrong set foot on the moon was good. Watching JFK's horse-drawn casket going down Pennsylvania Avenue was sad but also much needed by a hurting country. Lately however I have noticed that overall, television has become an incredible wasteland. To paraphrase Nathaneal (John 1:46), "Can anything good come out of television?"

During this time of fasting, I have also discovered something else, besides my disenchantment with television. I have discovered something . . . about myself. I live in a world that is in "between." I am the guy who stands with one foot on the dock and the other foot is in the boat. And the boat is moving away from the dock. Either I make a decision in favor of one or the other or my life is suddenly going to become a lot wetter.

The world on which we live is being orbited by a moon. The only thing that keeps the moon from crashing into us is the force of itself spinning around us. Without that speed, we would perish. If the moons velocity slowed it would begin to draw closer to the earth and, eventually, there would be a collision. And so it is with us and our faith.

This world, this God-less culture we have created for ourselves, has an incredible pull on each of us, just like the earth pulls at the moon. Without anyone to keep us from doing so, we are bound to be drawn into it, like a moth to a flame. And we are being absorbed into it more and more deeply, more fatally, with every passing day.

As I look at things it is obvious to me that only God can save us. The ironic thing is He has already offered to do just that. He has given us an invitation to join him in the lifeboat while everyone around us is partying while this ship goes down. And despite how loudly we yell, "Abandon ship!!" the music just gets louder and the drinks flow more freely than ever before. So what do we do?

Well, it begins with you and me. It begins with each of us. We are the ones who must tell our unbelieving friends about the waiting lifeboat. We are the ones who are in between; God's messengers if you will. He has instructed us to "make disciples of all nations." How we doin' with that? I myself am failing massively.

We are COMMANDED by God to preach The Gospel, to "make disciples of all nations" and to love others as we love ourselves. COMMANDED! And yet we do nothing. Back in the day, if we disobeyed a direct order from a king we would be killed or tortured for sure. Today though, seeing as almost everyone is ignoring orders from our King, suddenly it's okay?

We must be ready to speak The Gospel whenever God places people in our paths. We need to get them to see their sinful nature (we're ALL sinners so that should be pretty easy), and make them recognize their need for repentance and for a savior in Jesus Christ. There can be no in between. It's either one side or the other.

"30 Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters." - Matthew 12:30

God does not need us. He is able all by Himself. But He did call us to take action and we WILL be held accountable one day for all of our actions and for all of our inactions as well.

"36 I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, 37 for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” - Matthew 12:36-37

So let's speak of Jesus often. Let us speak of God's sacrifice of His Son . . . for OUR sins. And let us never be caught in the middle in our faith. May both of our feet be firmly planted on the side of the LORD (our Master and Absolute Ruler). And may His will be done, right here on earth, as it is in heaven.

Somewhere in The Middle by Casting Crowns

Interupted

The other night I was lying, face down, on the living room floor . . . trying to think. My wife was watching one of her TV shows. I don't really remember which one. It doesn't matter. The point was, I couldn't concentrate on what I was doing with the television on.

Lowering my head onto my Bible, I said a prayer - a prayer interrupted by the voices filling the room - the voices coming from . . . the television.

Did you ever sit down and analyze the things this world throws at us? Whether it is through the television shows the networks feed us or through the movies that Hollywood offers, we are inundated with worldly, mind-numbing drivel. Can you tell I have an opinion?

I love my Bible dearly. I take it with me everywhere I go. After particularly moving times within it's 66 books, I have been known to kiss its cover upon completion of my reading. I treasure time spent exploring and discovering the hidden secrets, the foreshadowing of things to come, and the promises of a God who loves us enough to send His Son to die for OUR sins.

It's pretty easy to figure out what's happening here as we find ourselves slowly being entertained . . . to death.

The following lyrics are from a little-known song by Roger Waters (formerly of Pink Floyd). It perfectly describes where we are headed as a society if we continue devoting our time to ourselves - the television watchers and the movie goers. We will soon be amusing ourselves to death.

We watched the tragedy unfold
We did as we were told
We bought and sold
It was the greatest show on earth
But then it was over
We ooh-ed and ahh-ed
We drove our racing cars
We ate our last few jars of caviar
And somewhere out there in the stars
A keen-eyed look-out
Spied a flickering light
Our last hurrah
And when they found our shadows
Grouped around the TV sets
They ran down every lead
They repeated every test
They checked out all the data on their lists
And then the alien anthropologists
Admitted they were still perplexed
But on eliminating every other reason
For our sad demise
They logged the only explanation left
This species has amused itself to death
No tears to cry no feelings left
This species has amused itself to death

Satan is VERY good at what he does. He gives us everything we want, right when we want it. We hardly even notice the little breaches in the walls surrounding our souls. Slowly he picks away at us.

"Work a little later tonight."

"Oh, no one showed up for your Bible study? Too bad. You must be failing. You fail at a lot of things, don't you."

We've all heard the voices of doubt in our heads. We let those thoughts enter into our minds because we are a forgetful people. We tend to forget about how we have been given the power to resist such things. We were bought with a price, yet we forget about our intercessor, the one who paid our price to begin with.

My wife often says to me, as I am picking up my Bible and walking out of the TV zone . . .

"You're leaving me!"

It's not like I'm "leaving my wife." It hurts me a little every time she says that. But there is someone I love more than her. I must find time to invest in that relationship as well. I MUST find time in my daily schedule for God. I must find some time for my King. The one who stands in the gap for me.

"8 Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 9 Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings. 10 And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. 11 To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen." - 1 Peter 5:8-11

Please watch this video by Pastor Eric Ludy of the Elerslie Bible Institute, Windsor, CO. See if Eric doesn't get us fired up for Jesus. :)

Intercession by Pastor Eric Ludy

TV

I spent my childhood in the 60's for the most part. Yeah, there was a brief stint in the 50's but most of those memories have long since been forgotten. The 60's was where I did most of my growing and learning - second grade through sophomore year. Most of that time was spent hanging out with my new best friend - television.

TV was different back then. I remember watching lots of shows about heroes. The Lone Ranger, Sky King, Superman and Batman. One of my favorite shows was Twelve O'clock High - a World War II show about bomber pilots - more heroes.

Television was relatively good back then. It allowed us to see a man set foot on the moon back in 1969. That was cool. I also got to watch The Ice Bowl (Packers vs Cowboys) - live, back in 1967. Those days, after-school baby-sitters came in black & white and had things known as "rabbit ears," an antennae used to improve reception.

These days the technology has improved greatly, but the quality of the television programming has taken a major nose dive. It sucks. Gone are the heroes of yesteryear. Gone are the values of family time, sitting around the dining room table. Instead we gather in the living room. If there IS any "family time" at home, it is usually centered around the television set.

King Solomon commented on television (sort of) in the Book of Ecclesiastes, chapter one. Here's a few verses from my BIV translation (Bob's Interpreted Version).

3 What do people gain from all their TV watching
    at which they spend hours under its spell?
4 Generations come and generations go,
    but the scars from television remain forever.

So many parents, perhaps searching for some time by themselves, leave their impressionable children in the hands of the god of television. It captures their very souls and they spend hour after hour watching the "boob tube" - hypnotized by its cold, pale glow. That's rather sad and it speaks to the selfish nature of our society today. But what can we do about it? We're already indoctrinated.

Back in 1971, the year I graduated high school, American folk singer John Prine released a song on his debut album. Although the song was named Spanish Pipe Dream, it became more widely known as "Blow Up Your TV." Here's some good advice for today's families, trying to find "family time" in a world now filled with an over-abundance of technology.

Blow up your T.V. throw away your paper
Go to the country, build you a home
Plant a little garden, eat a lot of peaches
Try an find Jesus on your own.

Good advice and, except for the "eat a lot of peaches" part, I have done all those things. Well, almost all. I didn't blow up our TV either. My wife would kill me! Gotta watch Castle and all those cooking shows and home fix-up shows! Actually, she probably wouldn't kill me but I bet the temperature drop in our house would be quite noticeable.

You know, if I had my way on this whole TV thing, I'd get rid of the satellite dish and I'd spend supper time sitting at the dining room table, talking with my wife. Then I'd take my TV out into the back yard and . . . KA - BOOM!!!

There are times when television serves a function, but there is simply too much time spent in front of the ol' idiot box . . . in my opinion. Keep track of what you watch sometime. You might be surprised at the number of hours devoted to this "god" during a given week.

So here is our challenge. Let's keep track of all of our "TV time" and compare it to our "God time" (prayer, church, serving others, etc.). If the TV wins, God has a problem with that. I'd even say that even if it's close, God's not going to like it. And the more that I think about it, ANYTHING that takes our attention away from God is not good.

I've tried reading my Bible while my wife watches the TV. It doesn't work. My full attention is not on God and that is wrong. So I get up and go into another room to read. I want my focus to be totally on God when I am in His Word.

God, help us to focus on you and you alone. Help us to remove the distractions from our lives, the things that replace you on your thrown, even for a short time. God, there is no one like you. Amen.

Where have all of our heroes gone? The ones we used to watch on TV? Pssst. They're in the Bible!

"There is none like you, O LORD; you are great, and your name is great in might." - Jeremiah 10:6 (ESV)

Our God Is Greater by Chris Tomlin