God's Word, The Holy Bible gives us knowledge of God. What a treasure a Bible is and so many people take it for granted. If they knew God they would not take His word so lightly, their Bible would not be gathering dust on the shelf. It is the most precious thing we own. It is a priceless treasure of Wisdom, knowledge, and revelations of knowing God, indeed it is the written form of God. Jesus says, (John 6:63 NKJV) "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life. Jesus is the Word so the Bible is Jesus revealed unto us. (John 1:1 NKJV) In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The Holy Bible is God in written form.
The worldview of a good life is to pursue wealth and pleasure, wealth so we can have more pleasure. (Proverbs 21:16-17 NKJV) A man who wanders from the way of understanding Will rest in the assembly of the dead. {17} He who loves pleasure will be a poor man... Seeking pleasure will make you poor financially and even more important, poor spiritually. When we seek to know God and seek His presence then we find true pleasure. (Psalms 16:11 NKJV) You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
In the modern world we have so many distractions even many more than in Jesus time but they all still fit the basic categories that He described. The worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. The cares of this life compete with the knowledge of God. Basically it gets down to how you spend your time. We are all given a certain amount of time on this earth and none of us knows how much. In the modern world we have much more "free time" because of modern conveniences and less work time. The more modern the culture the more free time, we no longer have to spend all day from sunup to sundown working to get enough food for each day.
Because we have so much free time we have invented a new distraction called entertainment. My definition of entertainment is wasting time through distractions. Entertainment is often a distraction from spending time with God and His word, keeping us from the knowledge of God. But because entertainment is controlled mostly from worldly people it has also become a main tool of education for the worldview and various religions. I saw this in the Philippines, the very poor who did not have a TV had a wonderful innocence about them. The ones who had a TV you could see they were trying to imitate what they thought was American culture, the worst of American culture that is.
Media in itself is not evil in fact I believe that the reason for modern media technology such as radio, TV, movies, and even the Internet is to spread the gospel. But as with everything Satan quickly rushes in to steal the word and pervert the word and the tools that communicate the knowledge of God. These tools are not evil but if they keep you from the knowledge of God or pervert and confuse the truth about God for you, then to you they have become evil. Sin is anything that separates you from God. The arts are forms of communication so the message in the art determines weather it is good or evil. Good if it presents pure truth; or evil if it presents a false message, or has part truth which causes confusion as to what truth is.
If we really knew that we only had a short time on earth how much time would we give to entertainment and other distractions that keep us from the knowledge of God? (Psalms 90:12 KJV) So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. If we could see the counter with the number of days we had left on earth and realized that today we have one less than yesterday, would it change our perspective on how to spend time? Yes, Most definitely.
When you move into the revelation of knowing God through compassionate love, this world and the things that are in it seem unimportant and unappealing. The pleasures of this world are not fun anymore; they can not compare to the exhilaration of the presence of God flowing through you in a river of compassion. (1 John 2:15-17 NKJV) Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. {16} For all that is in the world; the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life; is not of the Father but is of the world. {17} And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.
God Bless....SMILE
The worldview of a good life is to pursue wealth and pleasure, wealth so we can have more pleasure. (Proverbs 21:16-17 NKJV) A man who wanders from the way of understanding Will rest in the assembly of the dead. {17} He who loves pleasure will be a poor man... Seeking pleasure will make you poor financially and even more important, poor spiritually. When we seek to know God and seek His presence then we find true pleasure. (Psalms 16:11 NKJV) You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
In the modern world we have so many distractions even many more than in Jesus time but they all still fit the basic categories that He described. The worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. The cares of this life compete with the knowledge of God. Basically it gets down to how you spend your time. We are all given a certain amount of time on this earth and none of us knows how much. In the modern world we have much more "free time" because of modern conveniences and less work time. The more modern the culture the more free time, we no longer have to spend all day from sunup to sundown working to get enough food for each day.
Because we have so much free time we have invented a new distraction called entertainment. My definition of entertainment is wasting time through distractions. Entertainment is often a distraction from spending time with God and His word, keeping us from the knowledge of God. But because entertainment is controlled mostly from worldly people it has also become a main tool of education for the worldview and various religions. I saw this in the Philippines, the very poor who did not have a TV had a wonderful innocence about them. The ones who had a TV you could see they were trying to imitate what they thought was American culture, the worst of American culture that is.
Media in itself is not evil in fact I believe that the reason for modern media technology such as radio, TV, movies, and even the Internet is to spread the gospel. But as with everything Satan quickly rushes in to steal the word and pervert the word and the tools that communicate the knowledge of God. These tools are not evil but if they keep you from the knowledge of God or pervert and confuse the truth about God for you, then to you they have become evil. Sin is anything that separates you from God. The arts are forms of communication so the message in the art determines weather it is good or evil. Good if it presents pure truth; or evil if it presents a false message, or has part truth which causes confusion as to what truth is.
If we really knew that we only had a short time on earth how much time would we give to entertainment and other distractions that keep us from the knowledge of God? (Psalms 90:12 KJV) So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. If we could see the counter with the number of days we had left on earth and realized that today we have one less than yesterday, would it change our perspective on how to spend time? Yes, Most definitely.
When you move into the revelation of knowing God through compassionate love, this world and the things that are in it seem unimportant and unappealing. The pleasures of this world are not fun anymore; they can not compare to the exhilaration of the presence of God flowing through you in a river of compassion. (1 John 2:15-17 NKJV) Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. {16} For all that is in the world; the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life; is not of the Father but is of the world. {17} And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.
God Bless....SMILE
