Our society fulfills its desire for entertainment in an ever increasing level of shock and complete imbalance. With the ability to record pictures and video on almost every cell phone in use today, it’s rare to not see the aftermath of accidents, disasters and wars captured with immediacy and made available for the world to see. There is no lack of desire to see images more and more horrific in nature. Mainstream media has standards of what they cannot show and often warn or black out images deemed too graphic. But standards relax and what was unacceptable to show 20 or 30 years ago is now common place on nightly news.
We can attribute these growingly macabre desires to the god of this corrupt age and the influence he has unleashed on this world. But Satan has been at work since his deception in the garden and mankind’s lust for gore is not a new one. King David was given a heart wrenching decree by God because he gloried in bloodshed: “But God said to me, ‘You shall not build a house for My name, because you have been a man of war and have shed blood’” (1 Chronicles 28:3). Christ said that David was “a man after My own heart” (Acts 13:22) but more importantly we know that David had God’s Spirit. Like each one of us with that same Spirit, David saw the world with his eyes opened by God. But, he stumbled because of his love of war and bloodshed and was not allowed to build a physical house for God.
Living as a Christian in this world is difficult. The subtleties in how we interact on a daily basis can form lasting habits and those habits can either direct us toward godliness or away from it. It’s too easy to mirror the standards of this society and grow accepting and accustomed to the comfort it appears to give. But true Christianity should find no comfort in the beliefs of this age: “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9).
Each of us must strive to build a spiritual house—one that God would desire His Spirit to dwell within. It is imperative then, for our eternal existence, that we let our “conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel” (Philippians 1:27). Living a Christian life is not about “what I can’t do” but instead “what I should be doing.” With that mindset we can conduct ourselves in a manner suitable for Christ.
