By Lois Evans
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.— Romans 12:2
Our spiritual condition is changed in an instant when we receive Christ and become joint heirs with him; at that point we become entitled to everything He has. However, we are still capable of sin after conversion. So regardless of how long we have been Christians, we need to be constantly aware of what goes into the computer system called our minds.
No doubt you’re familiar with the computer term gigo. It stands for “garbage in, garbage out.” In other words, if you put bad information into your mind, you will get bad information out of it. Bad actions and reactions follow naturally.
If movies, television, and magazines are programming your mind, that can be very dangerous. I am not saying there’s anything wrong with keeping up with the news, watching a good movie, or reading a good magazine. The question is whether these things are impairing your ability to think for yourself and to think biblically. For us as kingdom women, if Vogue or Cosmo magazine are influencing the way we think, then our efforts will be concentrated on promoting our outer beauty rather than our inner beauty (see 1 Pet. 3:3-4).
This is not to condemn a woman’s attempts to look attractive, since we are a reflection of His glory. And we have a great role model in the woman of Proverbs 31. But if we would immerse ourselves in the Word even half the time we spend decorating ourselves, we would definitely have God’s attitude toward beauty as opposed to the world’s attitude.
We need to reject the world’s attempts to form us or manipulate us as individuals or as a married couple. We need to keep in mind that the things of this world are temporary while the things of God are eternal. We sometimes give far more value to the world than it deserves. Let’s make sure our minds are not being squeezed into the world’s mode of thinking.
Let’s Talk About It
As a kingdom woman, how do you keep from being negatively influenced by the culture?
I turn the TV OFF after watching enough morning/evening news before it begins looping back to what was already reported. If something educational, news breaking holds my interest, I watch and then click to a channel I feel is not so much fluff but more substance (CBS This Morning, Charlie Rose on PBS, my local news, CNN) for another take. The tv turns me search for that particular news item on internet news.
Point is to get down to business. I try to avoid clicking on alot of the side stories that are in news stores, home pages and links within an article.