Smokin'
Hack! Hack! Cough! Wheeze! I cannot stand the smell of smoke. In my state, smoking is banned in public restaurants. Whether you are a smoker or not, you must admit smoking is bad for you. My husband showed me a youtube video of an experiment where some contraption smoked 400 cigarettes through a bottle of water. In the end, the water was pitch black. The man conducting the experiment then boiled the water and was left with the tar. It was a thick black blob of gunk. Smokers paint their lungs with this gunk every puff they take. Yuck!
Y’all this really isn’t an article on why you should quit smoking. (But, you should. Really.) After seeing this video, I started thinking about the other things I put in my body. What kinds of things are going in my ears and eyes? Remember the children’s song “Oh, be careful little eyes what you see?” I began to wonder how careful I was really being.
If I am watching a television show that does not glorify God, is that okay? What about the steamy soap operas with infidelities, lies, and scandal? Is it okay to watch these things if I know they are just pretend? But, friends, the plots suck me in, not to mention some of my favorite actors and actresses. Who will Victor marry? And is that really Sammy’s baby?
When I am sitting in a group and someone speaks ill of a friend or co-worker, should I leave? If my best friend begins to tell me a juicy morsel, I can’t very well hang up! Racial jokes are okay as long as I’m not telling them. Right? Oh, dear ones, wrong. I am very wrong.
What we take in through our eyes and ears doesn’t coat our lungs with darkness; it coats our hearts with darkness. I’m speaking to myself as well. It’s easy to raise our eyebrows at smokers and say, “I would never pollute my body that way.” But the hammer is a little close to my toes when you ask me about polluting my heart. Are you with me?
Let’s make a deal, you and I. Together we’ll work on keeping our lungs, minds, and hearts clean. If your lungs are already coated with tar, call the doctor. If your heart is coated with mire, call The Physician. Only He can make you new again.
Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Psalm 51:10
Lord, I love you. Help me to show it by taking care of my body in every way. Please give me wisdom about what I should take in my heart with my eyes and ears. Forgive me when I've coated my heart with the blackness of sin. Give me a clean heart, O LORD. In Your Precious Name, Amen.
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Labels: Carol's Articles, Christian walk
posted by Carol @ 12:15 AM
17 Comments:
Amen sister. The best thing we ever did was get rid of cable. Now we control what we watch with video's and DVD's. All you said was so true.
Blessings to you!
Kim
Awesome. I love the way you pulled it all around.
(I was a former smoker, and let me tell you, smokers get all sorts of judged by everyone. Not many stop to think that what they are doing to themselves is just as dangerous ~ especially when you speak of matters of the heart.)
Amen to that! And most convicting...
Carol I loved that! It was absolutely needed and so very necessary! I imagine that we all face things like that at certain times---whether we work outside the home or not. In the workplace it can be espcially difficult when dealing with gossipy or even slanderous words from others.
May the LORD bless you---and help all of us to keep our lips zipped and ears plugged on the wrong conversations---and may the meditations of our hearts and the words flowing from our mouths be found pleasing to the LORD and a delight to HIS heart!
I loved this devotion today!
Great post, Carol! I think that many times we all just become desensitized by all the things we see around us and hear each day. May we all be more aware of what we are putting in our bodies.
This is such a great example of what we do to our lives when we do those 'pollutants'. They seem so minor, but they aren't. Great visual and great reminder!
I definitely have some detoxifying to do. I'll tell you, in a world where even the news is full of slander, anxiety and cursing, it's tough to hit the button on the remote without a "bleeep." It's the same way in everyday conversations with Christians. I so long to be salt and light, staying away from that which is lukewarm, meaningless or the opposite of what is pure and true and right.
Powerful post that, if inhaled, will help make the heart clean.
Loved this! For the past week I had coated my heart with bitterness. It must have been just as black as that tar. I had just repented and ask our Lord to cleanse me and then I read your "devo". Thank you sister and be blessed! Meri
Like secondhand smoke, what we put into our eyes, ears, and hearts can affect the people around us, too. Especially our children.
I am so glad that the blood of Jesus can cleanse all these pollutants.
Thank you for taking the hammer to my toes. :)
Love you!
K
Carol - EXCELLENT!!! Wonderful words of Truth and wisdom. Thank you, thank you!
A Day's of Our Lives Fan!? I've been hooked since the days of Stefano on the (first)Island in the early 80's. (I digress.....)
Basically: Garbage in, Garbage out. You're right. This is why we now have SkyAngel and I only see secular t.v. when we are in the electronics dept. at WalMart.
Thanks for the excellent reminder!
"...As a [wo]man thinks in her heart, so is [s]he."
There are so many things that affect our health and soul. Thanks for the reminder. Cindi
Amen dear one.
Ick! wonderfully written and clear as crystal!
Excellent article! This goes hand in hand with my time to weed my heart post. I'm trying!
Great post! I think about what I put into my body a lot, and this was a great picture for it!
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