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For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age…
Titus 2:11-12
Reflect
Years ago, I heard a story about a clever father who found a unique way to teach a lesson to his three teenage children. They had come to him to ask permission to go to a movie that their friends were going to see. His initial feeling was that they couldn’t go, but he let them make their case.
The children said that everyone was saying how great the movie was, and it was pretty clean. Well, there was a little sex, but it was barely even there. And the language wasn’t bad, except for the eight or 10 words, but there was only one F-word in the whole movie. And it was mostly non-violent, save for a couple of blood-letting scenes. But this is just the way movies are now, right?
The father listened patiently and told his children that he still didn’t like the idea, but that he’d give them his final word later in the day. They went about their business for the rest of the day, but the father went to work. He made a special batch of brownies and followed a favorite recipe, but added one new ingredient. And then he called his children to the kitchen for some milk, brownies and his final word.
The kids were excited – this seemed like a good sign! But then the dad revealed his new brownie recipe. The secret ingredient was a tiny amount of dog poop from the yard. Everything about the brownies was perfect except for that small addition. As he cut a perfect brownie and plated it, the chocolatey morsel looked every bit as moist and chewy as one would expect, but with the knowledge about the doggie-doo, the children were predictably disgusted. The father reassured them that they wouldn’t even notice the dog poop because there was just a little bit, and he was pretty sure it wouldn’t be harmful. Even so, his teens rejected his dessert and told him to throw the brownies into the trash.
At that point, the door for the lesson was wide open. The father asked his children, “What’s the difference between a little bit of poop in the brownies and just a ‘little bit’ of the things you mentioned would be in the movie?” The world tries to get us to lower our standards just a little bit at a time by offering just a dab of this and that. The things that were once wholesome get a new touch of overt sexuality, a smidge of lewdness, a tidbit of garbage. And all of a sudden, our standards are compromised and we don’t even know how they got that low.
In our story, the children got the point. Whenever they came to their father to ask permission for something that was questionable, he asked them if they wanted a batch of his special brownies, and that settled the matter. But what about us? How many “poop brownies” are we willing to eat before we get tired of settling for things that are beneath what the Lord has in mind for us?
Be mindful of what you consume through your eyes and ears. If you’re getting spiritual indigestion from your media diet, you might need to find a new recipe. Insist on the pure, wholesome fare that is reflective of a godly spiritual fare. It might seem boring or passe at first, but the impact on your spiritual system will be much more satisfying.
Reflection copyright © 2024 Doug DeBolt and Charles Fulton
Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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