Concrete Steps

In pondering the importance of setting goals, one important bit of advice is to make them specific and take concrete, tangible steps towards reaching them.

One of my goals (and I imagine it's one of most Christians as well) is to purify my thought life. Well, it's easy to say that's what I want to do, but what steps can I take toward doing that?

Several years ago, I felt strongly convicted to stop watching R-rated movies. I'm not saying that it's wrong for everyone to watch them, but I do know that I was being affected by the violence and sexual content those movies contained. So I made the decision to avoid watching them. Now, I'll admit that I have seen a couple of R-rated movies since then ("The Passion of the Christ" being one of them), but for the most part I've resisted the temptation to watch one. I can honestly say that I don't feel like I've missed out on anything because I haven't been able to see those movies.

Now I'm feeling convicted about another entertainment source. For years I've watched "Law and Order: SVU". I don't watch it on a regular basis; most of the time that I see it, it's in reruns on USA or some other network. But over the past few days I've been thinking that it's not a healthy show for me to watch. I don't need to hear about all kinds of deviant sexual behavior, rape, molestation, murder, etc. I don't like having those thoughts on my mind.

So, I'm making the decision to end my "SVU"-watching days. I'm going to miss it--this weekend, one of the networks was running an "SVU" marathon, and that was hard to resist. But I do think I'm taking another step in purifying my thought life.

Y'all feel free to hold me accountable for this, especially the next time an "SVU" marathon is advertised!