American Idle
19/01/09
God's iPod is Free, thanks to our monthly supporters.
Our current monthly subscription total is: $130 out of a needed $1700.
Create your monthly subscription today by clicking here.
Click to play the audio and listen as you read along...
The American Idol craze has swept the globe with franchised shows in many countries. It's been a staggering success, for those making the money from it. But what does the popularity of this show mean for you and me? What kind of effect does watching all this television have on us. What I'm asking is, is it a success for you and me?
A 2007 survey shows that watching TV is the 2nd most common thing we do during our waking hours, second only to our employment. Out of all the free time we have, we choose to sit, and watch TV.
Whenever someone comes over and discovers that I don't own a TV, I am often greeted with strained expressions. How can you not own a TV? There's so many good shows on TV. And while I agree that there is some good entertainment to be found on TV, the vast majority of it is not. Much of it is extremely harmful to us, much of it is propaganda, nearly all of it lacks any kind of intelligence. TV is great brain killer. Christian speaker Zig Ziglar calls it the Electronic Income Depleter, because the amount of TV you watch each day, directly correlates with how much money you earn.
Now the Bible is not silent on this issue. It talks a lot about what we do with our time. Because what occupies our time, our headspace, those are things we care most about. Spending time with God or our families, creating a better world around us, or watching TV, which one is more important to us? All we need to do is pick the one we spend the most time on, and we have our answer.
And with the amount of TV we watch, directly correlating to how much we weigh. Perhaps the best diet starts with taking back that big flat panel TV we bought for Christmas, and putting an hour aside to walk the community with our family, to get to know our neighbors and the people living so close to us that we know nothing about. Plant a garden, and start growing much of your own food, kids love this. Instead of watching a movie as a family, play a board game, or take the family to a homeless shelter to help out for an evening.
Let's look at this another way. If I watched TV, you wouldn't be listening to this right now and I couldn't bring you God's iPod or the numerous podcasts we have. If I watched TV, 100,000 people a month could not be listening to the Word of God. So it begs the question; What could God be doing in your life, if you stopped watching TV? Think about it. If you gave God back those 2-4 hours a day you spend watching TV right now, imagine what He could do with that time! Let's teach the next generation to be active, not idle.
Scriptures:
Hebrews 6:10-12 God is fair. He won’t forget what you’ve done or the love you’ve shown for him. You helped his people, and you continue to help them. We want each of you to prove that you’re working hard. Then, instead of being lazy, you will receive the promises through faith and patience.
Proverbs 13:4 A lazy person craves food and there is none, but the appetite of hard-working people is satisfied.
God Bless you, and may you be covered in the dust of your rabbi.
Add this podcast to iTunes... or Add this podcast to my Email...