Convicted

"Garbage in, garbage out." Remember that old saying? I haven't heard it in quite a while. The more I think about it, the more I feel that the phrase is quite out-of-date. Why? Because it seems like almost every form of media, whether that be magazines, books, newspapers, television, movies, webisodes, or etc., is FULL of garbage. Not just a little bit, but A LOT of make-your-grandmamma-cry garbage.

God's conviction can come in mysterious ways and in mysterious places. Reading a fellow blogger's post about The Women of Joy conference in San Antonio led me to Stephen Curtis Chapman's web site. There, I found out about his wife, Mary Beth Chapman's NYT bestseller, Choosing To See.

As I was reading part of the description and some reviews, God's Spirit moved in me. He made me think about what I've been reading lately. These aren't things that I just happen to see on TV, but things I'm intentionally choosing to read. Most of them would make my grandmother blush and are definitely garbage. They are not pleasing to God and should not be pleasing to me.

Philippians 4:8 tells us, "Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things." It doesn't take me long to figure out that my reading material does not reflect this advice from Paul and Timothy. I don't know what changes God has in store for me, but I do know that He does not want me to seek out anything other than what glorifies Him.

Based on that realization and conviction from above, I've decided that I will not read a single book by a non-Christian author from now until the end of the year, at the very least, be it fiction or non-fiction. I have already taken the first step to remove every secular book from my queue at Booksfree and replaced each one with a Christian work. Sending the cry out to my Facebook friends yeilded some wonderful suggestions from four awesome, intelligent people. I know I won't be disappointed with their suggestions. There are two sets of books at the house that will be back in the mail tomorrow and I am going to pack my to-be-read pile into the back of the closet for the time-being.

This will be a tough project for me, but I know that God's hand is in it. Quite frankly, I'm out of touch with Christian authors and will probably make some blunders along the way. Especially where non-fiction is concerned, I will seek out the advice and recommendations of my friends and family. I ask for your prayers as I seek to do what's honorable in what I read.



What has God convicted you of lately? Did it require a big change? How did you handle it?