From Matthew 21:14-16:  “The blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He cured them.  But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the amazing things that He did and heard the children crying out in the temple and saying, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David,’ they became angry and said to Him, ‘Do you hear what these are saying?’  Jesus said to them, ‘Yes; have you never read, Out of the mouths of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise for yourself?'”

“Please, Mommy, please!  Can we listen to our records?  Heather and I want to listen to a record. We don’t want to watch what’s on TV.  We want to listen to records!”  As I flipped through the TV stations, Taryn was jumping up and down, pulling on my arm. Heather was following her lead.  They were trying to persuade me to listen to their favorite records rather than watch TV.  From songs they had learned in Sunday School, they both loved listening to and singing them.

There was no way I could refuse their pleading!  They were learning the lesson I’d been trying to teach them.  Today, they were teaching me!  There are so many more interesting and fun things to do than watch TV all day.  I realized Satan is using the television more and more in the world every day.  It’s become one of the main vehicles to share deception and trickery.  The violence, suggestive language, actions, vanity, and other worldly issues we are shown can attack our families in very subtle ways.  As these have eased themselves onto the screen and into our minds, we’ve found ourselves becoming used to them.  We accept them without a fight.  Things that would have upset us five or ten years ago are seen in homes every day without a thought.

God tells us to think on things that are honest, just, pure, lovely, and of good report.  Our children must be brought up with this attitude instilled in their minds. To ignore what they watch on television is a tragic mistake.  When we allow them to see cartoons or other shows filled with violence, hatred, magic, or witchcraft, we are falling short of the teaching in God’s Word.  If this garbage Satan 23 is dumping on our children continually invades their minds, what effect will it have on them next week, next year, or five years from now?

What a precious reminder Taryn and Heather had given me!  I praised God for the wisdom of my children as we sang the songs on their record that morning.  They smiled back at me as we sang, “I am a promise.  I am a possibility.  I am a promise.  I can be anything, anything God wants me to be.”

This devotional post is written by my wife, Colleen.  It is taken from her book’s section on Devotions.  She has recently been blessed with seeing her BITS ‘N’ PIECES OF MY HEART available at a Christian bookstore in the United Kingdom.  God continues to light a pathway for others to read her book, as it is available on most online bookstore sites.