Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

God has put some circumstances in my life, again, that have brought on some new thinking and a different focus, again. He seems to keep doing that and it's never easy... but it is my own fault for resisting His nudgings. I am not going to go into the details of those circumstances because, frankly, they are unimportant to the point
and a little personal.

What God laid on my heart and then my wife sort of said almost the same thing the next morning was that if you are steeped in pop-culture and fill your head with new releases in the theater, current releases of your favorite secular music artists, keep up with and work to see your favorite TV shows, and generally fill your mind with all these things of the world... You are probably missing some growth opportunities, if not most growth opportunities. Your mind is occupied with the world and not God. How important is pop-culture to us? Billions of dollars are spent on entertainment of the movie/music/TV varieties. That's how important.

What is the chief end of man? Why are we here? To glorify God and do His will. He gives each of us a purpose. We are alive because God wants us to be. If He wants us to be, then He has a purpose for us. Am I fulfilling that purpose?

I am not a huge TV person. We just don't watch that much. I have some shows I watch with guys at work and we talk about them. Same with movies, we talk about those, too. I do love movies. Probably my favorite form of entertainment. I also like music. I also have always loved Stephen King books. I have every Stephen King audio book in my collection. And I am not going to condemn any of those forms of entertainment, that's not my point. But my issue here is that I listened to secular music in the car, and I like some good alternative rock-and-roll which is typically not very godly these days. If not music then I was listening to a Stephen King audiobook or some other secular audiobook. I also focus on what movies are out and the TV shows that we do watch I spend energy making sure we have them recorded to watch at work and that time is spent doing that. But how much time and energy do I spend on/with/for God? I do bible study with the kids in the morning and spend time reading (a little) on my own but for the most part I am spending most of the time and energy on things that aren't glorifying to God or giving me an opportunity to grow. Very little.

So, I felt the need (i.e. nudge) to refocus a little. I removed the music from my portable device as well as all audiobooks. I am only listening to teaching by John MacArthur during my commute (he's fantastic) and I am completely committed to having a better attitude and those easy little things we do every day without thinking about them that aren't really glorifying to God or even obedient to God... I am just as committed to being aware and conscious and purposeful about my actions. That attitude/actions part sort of was a side effect, honestly. That didn't start as a conscious choice but actually came about from the first part. I just ended up winning the little battles against myself a little easier that cause the bad attitudes and disobedient actions.

This has only been the past few days, but I promise you I feel a difference in my heart. There is a very intense peace about it. I have not ever really felt it like this before. I think for the first time in my life I am finally letting go of my selfish desires/lusts of the flesh that we all fight... the ones I didn't really want to let go of (oh, this one isn't so bad. I'll just hang on a little bit to it) and God has blessed me with a peace about it to show me I should have let go a long time ago. Again, I am not saying that entertainment is bad. I am saying that putting entertainment higher than God is bad. I mean, that's a no-brainer... but it's also VERY easy to do.

There are times I am very sad and regretful about missed opportunities and wasted time in my life. I've made some really bad choices along the way. Thank God for His mercy and His grace. But I think if I dwell on that regret, I'll never get past it because as life goes on and I grow, there will always be something to look back on and regret. Instead, I just want to move forward now. I am actually kind of excited to keep moving forward. But I guess that's a whole other post.