Spiritual Sensitivity
READ: Psalm 1:1
“I was so mad that I turned off the TV!” the mother said to me. It got me thinking. How many of us turn off violence or bad language we see and hear?
Recently, we discussed this issue in our Bible class at church. Most in the class admitted that their standard of moral sensitivity towards judging the contents of television programs had gone down in the past ten or twenty years. Our parents would have been shocked to view some of today’s sex-oriented programs if they had been aired in the 60”s or 70”s.
God says to us, “Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers.” In other words, God promises that He will bless us for being spiritually sensitive.
Don’t conform to the world, Paul warned the congregation at Rome. But, all these outside influences—such as TV or the movies or the people at my place of work or the magazines I read—certainly can and do influence me. Do they conform me to the world’s ways? Have I become comfortable with sin or the world’s low standard of morality?
When I was younger, my mother told me that if something dulled my desire for God, it was sin. Afterwards I learned the Scripture verse of Hebrew 12:1, “Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.” Notice the action needed by us, “running the race.” It is not the comfortable action involved in “walking, standing or sitting with the wicked” as Psalm 1 warns us.
Running the race means to be living Christ’s way. There is no mystery what way that is. It’s told us in the Bible. In fact, the power or strength to live our lives for Jesus also comes in and through the Word of God. Jesus’ love for me and His promise to share eternal life with me motivates me to use Scripture, think about it, apply it, and pray over it. We can’t maintain our spiritual sensitivity if we spend only one hour of worship with the Lord on Sunday and then spend the other 167 hours on the world. What we need is Bible study, family devotions, Christian friends and wholesome entertainment. That will sharpen our spiritual discernment or sensitivity, so that we can say “no” to walking with the wicked