INCHES BECOME MILES

We all went to the library the other day to return some books and to possibly “rent” some movies. We don’t go out to the movies anymore because of the money and having the boys (the last movie we saw in the theater was The Incredibles in December of 2004). We now simply wait for the movies to make it to the library where they are free. I searched through their selections and found a few that we hadn’t seen that looked fairly good so we brought them home.

It was starting to get late last night, but really felt I wanted to watch the one. I grabbed a snack and asked Heidi if she wanted to watch it with me. She emphatically declined with the reasoning of it being late, but also that she didn’t want to be exposed to “that filth.” It was a PG-13 movie…how bad could it be? And to tell you the truth, it wasn’t that bad; it was worse than what I remembered PG-13 to be, but it wasn’t that bad.

As the movie concluded early this morning, I came to a realization that God had spoken to me through the main character of the movie. He was a “bad” man, but a devout church-goer who encouraged others to live better lives for the Lord. He challenged people on their behaviors; he held them accountable. Other than the deviant side of this character, he was a model Christian who loved the Lord.

As strange as it sounds, God convicted me through this evil man who really only talked good values. But conviction from the Lord feels the same whether it comes through your pastor or through an actor playing a villain. I should not have watched that movie; there was just a little dog poop in it, but it ruined the entire brownie (click here to know what I’m talking about).

And that got me thinking…how often do we allow Satan to pull us away from the Lord little by little? The problem is that when we ease up on our values just a little bit, that allowance then becomes our new “normal”. When we give in a little on that new norm, we are now two steps away from our original starting point. A slight adjustment again moves us farther away from our “true north” and we seem to get lost. On and on it goes. Inch after inch becomes a mile over time. That’s how the R-rated movies from yesterday became the PG-13 movies of today—little allowances time and time again.

We cannot allow the enemy to deceive us into believing that this garbage is okay for us. It’s not okay for our children; it’s not okay for us. It’s a waste of time and doesn’t bring God glory; it’s a pleasure of the flesh instead of something with eternal value. But it’s also a way to let the enemy convince us into believing that we can be a few steps away from the path and still be okay.

We need to stay on the path—the journey that the Lord has laid out for us. Yes, it’s tough and we will slip off the path now and again…but we need to get back on it. Being close enough to see the path is not good enough.