It's Time to Walk the Walk - Part II

In the last Studies we examined two ways that we could Walk the Walk. (See Archives) We noted how all of us need to be more knowledgeable and that we should be healers and not wounders. Please remember the warning. All of these suggestions require effort. Sometimes it’s easier to sit on the sidelines and lament, “It is what it is and I can’t do anything about it.” But each of us can do something about the darkness if we will.

Here are some more possibilities as you look at ways you can make a difference.

3. Find the off button. If you watch television, and I know that many of our readers do not, be very selective as to what you and your family watch. When computers first became available to the general public there was a slogan that came with them. GIGO. Garbage in, garbage out. A computer was and is only as effective as the information that it is programmed with. Our minds are similar to computers in this respect. If we fill them with trash they will articulate trash. If we fill them with garbage they will become desensitized by and to that garbage. In this day and age you don’t even have to leave your chair. If the program or advertisements are questionable pick up your remote and change the channel. Better yet, turn it off. Your time would probably be better spent reading, spending quality time with your children, or sending “Thinking of You” cards to someone.

Write to the networks. Tell them that you don’t appreciate their programming. Let them know that you will not be watching and that you will be notifying advertisers of your decision. Chances are, if you receive a response, they will dismiss you, discounting you as some right-wing radical. That’s OK. We right-wing radicals spend money too and if enough of us write that letter or make that telephone call, we will have someone’s attention.

Write to sponsors. Let them know that you will not support their product as long as they support unacceptable programming. They too may fluff you off but remember your wallet talks.

And if you watch television, support those programs that share your values and principles. Let the stations and sponsors know that this is the kind of entertainment that you will permit into your home.

The off-button principle also applies to the computer, literature, and radio when they are used to promote wrong. Turn off those things that will cloud your vision and open your eyes to a fuller understanding of the truth. QIQO. Quality in quality out.

4. Don’t shoot your wounded. I have heard the expression, “The Christian army is the only army in the world that shoots its own wounded.” We don’t need Spotters for Jesus who run the race looking for another contestant to stumble and fall. The Lord does not need us to inform Him, “Hey, Lord, do you see that? She just fell. But Lord, I’m still running well. Oops, there’s another one. These weaklings are falling like flies.” We need to pick one another up realizing that we are on the same team, we are in the same army, and the day will come that we will need another’s help. The enemy has little to do if we eliminate one another in the battle. It is when we work together for the cause of Christ that we will begin to see more victories.

Following this theme, don’t be a pick-nitter. (For those who don’t speak in Spoonerisms, nit-picker.) You will never agree with everything someone else believes. But the war is too big and the stakes too high to argue with one another over matters of opinion. Where we genuinely disagree, we must, in the spirit of love, reason together that we may come to a mutually beneficial position of truth. (See Mark 9:38-40.)