Letting Go

Yesterday I preached at First Baptist Church of North East, PA on properly loving yourself. However, I do not plan on diving into that topic today, because in a couple of weeks I will have the audio, along with the sermon notes, available on the blog. Today I just want to discuss giving up worldly things.

The last few months the Lord has used my time at home to grow close to an older friend that I hadn't seen in years. At least twice a week we get together and hang out. Most of the time we end up discussing movies and theology, not always simultaneously. Tonight was no different. Both of us have been convicted of letting go of worldly possessions. In essence that means watching less movies, listening to less music, reading less novels, etc. It is not that we believe everything in each of these categories is inherently evil; however, should we as Christians watch films such as "Goodfellas," or "Saving Private Ryan," or any film that does not out right promote the gospel of Christ?

This concept is extremely hard for me to grasp considering the fact that a) I love movies, b) I love music, and c) I enjoy reading almost anything. My conviction tells me that I should stop watching films and devote all of my time developing my spiritual disciplines. Instead of spending hours reading worldly magazines or books, I should spend hours reading scripture. This isn't something we can justify through balance. For example, if I read two hours of Michael Crichton, then I should read two hours of the Bible. I should be using all four hours to read the Bible. In all honesty, I wish I could act on my convictions a little more.

All in all, that is my prayer request for the week. I am hoping to use this summer to trim back on my movie watching Any thoughts?

With much love,
Christian Eriksson