Daily Devotional for Saturday February 12, 2000

Studying the Things of God

(Acts 17:11)

I have always been convinced that one of the best ways to avoid a lot of life?s traps is by staying immersed in the things of God during our day-to-day life. That includes the things we read, the music we listen to, and the places we go. It is no accident we get off track when the things we do on a day-to-day basis have no value and lead us away from our daily relationship with the Lord instead of closer towards it. I am NOT one of those who advocates never reading anything non-Christian, or only listening to Christian music, or not watching a movie because it may not have a Christian theme to it. However, I can tell you that the things we put through our senses each day, the things we read, listen to, and watch, all have a big role in how we ultimately act and carry out our day-to-day decisions.

I will do a Devotional shortly on one of the most important issues there is in sustaining a victorious walk with Christ, and that is renewing your mind daily. But today, I want to focus simply on the importance of putting good, solid, Biblically-based books and music into your daily lifestyle. It is important! We can wake up, spend 30 minutes or so in prayer and the Word, then get out into the world and in a few short hours forget we even know a man named Jesus. I think it is important that whatever else we may be reading, to always have at least one good Biblically-based Christian book we read each day. I think it is important to listen to some good uplifting music, whether it be Gospel, praise and worship, contemporary, or Southern...just as long as it is good, Bible-based music to put into your heart and life each day. You see, what we put into our life has a lot to do with what comes out of our life. I am sure you have heard the old saying, ?Garbage in, garbage out.? We need to be aware of the things we put into our life to help keep us focused on what this life is really all about.

I pray, today, that these few words have been a wake-up call to many of you. It is easy to get out and about in this world we live in and not even be aware or think about the influences we deal with that impact our lives. I am very big on personal responsibility and think we blame ?things? way too much for our own behavior, but the things we read, the music we listen to, play a big role in how we live each day. I love you and care about you and want you to really start being more aware of what it is you read and listen to on a day-to-day basis. Changes in your life can be as subtle as reading a good Christian book or listening to some uplifting Christian music, both of which help keep you focused and close to the Lord and our real purpose in this life.

Again, I pray that this Devotional today is a wake-up call to be more aware each day of the things you read and listen to. It is a big part of your life and greatly affects your day-to-day decisions. My prayer is that you will always keep Him first, every single second of every single day as we stand together for His glory!!!!