Liquid Calories

Have you looked at the current issues today and wondered to yourself how people could support such evil? It troubles me deeply as I see the world stand behind evil and call it good. What is scarier is seeing people who claim to be "Christians" stand on the same side as the world. This is seen on both the Left and the Right. The devotional today comes from Romans 1:

 21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

We have been taught to examine everything. We are told that doubting is a sign of intelligence. Skepticism is welcomed in higher education. The goal is to create people who can think critically. Nothing I've stated so far is bad. In fact, all of it may be true. 

We take all of this and begin to do our own research. This is where the downhill slope starts. An individual's "research" is often defined as "I typed it into Google and found this article." Once upon a time, "research" had procedures, standards, and was respected. Now, everyone uses it so plainly due to having every answer at the tip of our fingers. "I'll do a little more research to see which product is best."

That's the first issue. It can be easily corrected by teaching people how to properly use the tools. If people know how to look objectively and have something to measure it by, that solves a good portion of the issue. 

The next issue is near impossible: our modern philosophy claims that truth is relative and there is no such thing as absolute truth. 

This means that all research will lead to a conclusion that is impossible to achieve because no conclusion will please both sides. We pursue "truth" and it is loosely defined by whatever you want it to be. Statistics do not help because the stats game is a twisted one-- you can take any stats to make it say what you want. If you can't, just find other statistics. 

As if that wasn't complicated enough already, now let's introduce the human heart. John 3:19 gives us a glimpse:

And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. 

What we are to understand from this verse the the passage in Romans is that the human heart is bent towards darkness and our thinking is futile because it will always lead us to a conclusion where we justify our darkness and sins. 

Let's put that together... are you ready?

We are bent towards darkness, so we will search for answers to justify our darkness, but will never realize it is darkness because society tells us there is no such thing as "darkness." 

This is the pattern that our children/teens will fall into. This is the pattern that you and I fall into. With everyone having increased screen time, easier access to the internet, and decreased time from real people, this becomes a recipe for toxic disaster. 

How is the Believer to guard from this so we don't fall into this trap? Romans 12:2 gives us the key:

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Renew. Your. Mind. How?

1. Spend time in God's Word. 
2. Spend less time in the news media/social media. If you're spending more time here than in God's Word, there's grave concerns. If you're trying to lose weight, drinking soda will hinder you greatly. Consider news/social media as the same-- it's calories with no nutrients. 
3. Confess that you don't know it all. Do not mistaken your "Google search" for actual research. It is scary to say, "I don't know." Society laughs at your ignorance. But God exalts the humble.
4. Connect with people. Hear their stories. Listen. 
5. Understand that the transformation of the mind is a process done in you by the Holy Spirit. Therefore, pray earnestly for that transformation. 

Ultimately, we must acknowledge that God's Word, and His Word alone is truth. If your answer to something is, "Well, I feel that this is wrong," be ready to back it up with Scripture.