Entertainment and the Great Commandment

Jesus said that the greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.  (Mark 12:29-30)  This commandment gets me every time.  It reminds me of how far I fall short of God's ideal.

For a lot of Christ's followers, we seem to ignore this commandment with our entertainment choices.  "Uh, Lord, I'm going to see this movie...hope you don't mind...uh, well, we'll talk about it later."  It's as though we know that the movie or TV show is spiritual poison, but we are willing to deal with the consequences.  Our entertainment choices are off limits for discussion, even with God.  We want to love God with all our minds, but entertainment doesn't really count, does it?

This inward tension--between what we know is right and what we do--hinders our spiritual lives.

I don't want to set some artificial guidelines about movie ratings, or how much nudity is okay, or how many f-bombs are permissible.  It would be way too easy to create some man-made yardstick and hold it up to every book or movie.

I think Jesus wants to get to our hearts.  He wants us to be in constant communication with him, even in the movies.  He wants us to bring these choices to him.  He wrestles with sin in this world.  He has a sense of humor.  He enjoys irony.  He likes good stories.

Would you dare to let Jesus in on your entertainment choices?  He's not a killjoy.  He might even help you enjoy your entertainment more.  Maybe that show is not really spiritual poison, if you see it through his eyes.

Love him with all your mind.

One More Thing

After I preach on Sundays, sometimes I think of another point I should have made. As our small group met on Wednesday, discussing last Sunday’s message from Acts 14, I had another bit of insight. In Acts 14 we find the story of Paul preaching in Lystra, when he notices a lame man who has faith to be healed. Paul commands him to stand up, which he does.

The man could experience healing because Paul was living in the power of the Holy Spirit, listening to his promptings. But Paul also noticed this man particularly in the crowd. Paul was paying attention to people.

We too can live this way. We can pay attention to the people around us. We can notice their needs and hurts. But we also need to be listening constantly to the prompting of the Spirit. He will show us how he wants to work in the lives of those around us.

It is a powerful combination: listening to God while noticing people. That sounds a whole lot like the Great Commandment: Love God, Love People. These are the greatest commandments, Jesus said. This is how we should be living.

When we live like this, Jesus reveals his power and the world is blessed by him. And this gives his servants joy in the process.