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Have you taken inventory of the habits you have in regards to who you are listening to? How important is it that we tune in to the right channels of true and not misleading information? Filtering through the constant barrage of Instagram, Facebook, advertising, television, news, family, friends, and co-workers and focusing on what is relevant and worthwhile can be a daunting task. How much time and value are we placing on them are essential questions we should ask ourselves.
If we do not stop and think about and adjust accordingly, then we are just being led by the intentions and desires of others. No one can predict where that will put us in five, ten, or twenty years down the road.
It will serve us well to regularly stop and consider who and what we are listening to.
The good news is that you and I are in control of our future if we choose to make use of our minds to control our brains and bodies so that they are our servants. If we do not take control, then our lives will become the result of everyone else’s schedule for us. Moreover, any mentioned areas can mold and shape our minds in very negative, false, and destructive ways.
They all can be useful as well, but the proof is in the pudding, as they say, and we all must evaluate how each may be affecting our lives because no one else is going to.
That is not to say we should not listen to anyone who has a different opinion or who views things differently than we do. I suggest that we take control of our sources of information and who we listen to, what we are repeatedly doing each day, and how much time we allow specific platforms to take up in our daily lives.
You make the decisions of who influences you the most in your life.
Marriages can fail because wives or husbands chose to listen to their friends and spent all day listening to the wrong voices, telling them they deserved better. It is a recipe for disaster when we allow a friend to have that kind of influence over our most intimate relationships and especially the one person in our lives who have committed to us,” forsaking all others, till death do us part.”
Perhaps it started slowly and seemed innocent enough but somehow blew up into this massive habit of seeing everything your partner does in a negative light to the point they can do nothing right in your eyes.
Instead of honoring their husband or wife, they have chosen to spend their time listening to someone outside the marriage.
(This doesn’t refer to getting advice or counseling, but you had better be careful when choosing who you go to for information even then. All counselors, just as with anything else, are not foolproof.)
Consequently, they justify sneaking around and seeing other people until finally there is nothing left and the marriage is over. While this may seem like an extreme example, it happens all the time. And, unfortunately, it will continue to go on in our society.
If you listen to the wrong voices, it can have terrible consequences in your life.
The intentional agenda of extreme radical groups to normalize every sick and perverted act under the sun may feel suitable for the moment. But this country is morally slipping into the point of no return.
Repeat, repeat, repeat until it becomes routine. Get our clueless liberal government to back it up, then force it down the throats of young children. In one single generation, this country is upside down to where good is evil, and evil is good. No rules, no laws except what the most liberal and extreme members of society decide.
Truth and transparency are standards we must insist on by those who we listen to for news and information.
It repeatedly plays like a broken record aimed at changing minds and opinions, and it works far better than even they thought it would. Technology is the tool for spreading mass deception quicker and more efficiently than at any other time in history.
Exceptions in our day have somehow become the new standard in everything, and because someone has some rare exception to the norm, we throw all rules out the window so that no one feels wrong about anything they do. Yet, we look in shock when someone commits the most horrible crimes with no remorse.
Those pushing tolerance are hypocrites and do not tolerate anyone who opposes them.
We must be deliberate in how we spend our time so that we reach our goals and dreams. We must make good choices on who we spend our time with and who we listen to because these impact our lives far more significantly than we may realize.
The more time we spend with someone, the bigger their influence will become. Likewise, the more time we listen to or spend on a social network, the more it will impact our lives. But, of course, you and I are not robots, so we are not immune to the opinions, stories, images, or movies we see and hear. If you laugh about something enough times, you will likely never take it seriously.
Unfortunately, Hollywood has numbed viewers by mocking morality, joking about immorality, and normalizing things that are not normal or good for anyone. Vegetate on the garbage that fills the airways today consistently, and you will lower your standards of morality, become numb to violence, normalize profanity, and begin to accept every single type of illicit sexual behavior and suggestion as merely someone’s preference.
Be deliberate and careful with your entertainment choices because the movies and programs available today are lowering our moral standards by desensitizing us through repetition.
They are so liberal and biased with their views that I turned off their voice and influence in my life. But, unfortunately, most of the mainstream has drifted more and more towards progressive and immoral ways of thinking.
I have to tell you that I love watching movies. It is an excellent form of entertainment. So long as I do not have to be shown a steady supply of violence and vulgarity. I do not want to listen to someone speaking in Cuss-a-knees. (someone who speaks profanity fluidly in all situations).
And I promise if you keep hearing filth, it will spill out of your mouth sooner or later. If you keep seeing violence glorified and the immediate retaliation and revenge that occurs and is often the central theme in films you watch, it will change you.
Well, That is Just Being Legalistic and Overly Cautious, Right? Your subconscious mind just took all those movie scenes you watched, not as a movie, but as information. It then stores the information the same as any other. What is worse is that the information in a film often has the added sensations we experience, making for a vivid memory.
The special effects, the emotions, the lighting, the perfect bodies, and things that visually stimulate us as we view movies make the impact that much more intense. Your subconscious stores it all, and it becomes part of you now. One movie may not have much effect on your life, but how many movies, t.v. Shows, comedies, Facebook images, and Youtube videos do we see in the course of one month?
How about a year or throughout our lifetime. To think that these powerful, emotional images and voices do not drastically affect us ignores science, how our minds work, and common sense. Repeatedly watching images in movies will influence anyone. When sex is normalized with anyone and everyone, it becomes that way in your mind as well.
And what you think in your conscious mind becomes more and more irrelevant as your subconscious now has files full of information that may say otherwise, no matter what you consciously believe is right or wrong.
We cannot take in all the movies, media, and shows we do and not be affected by them. We very well may be programming our minds to change things we do not want or need to change.
You and I have control until we give it to someone or something else. Then they have the power to place in our minds what we will sit there, listen to, or watch. Not too many years ago, I began to see a marked difference in the work environment concerning language and values. Things that previously were not considered acceptable were becoming more and more commonplace.
I could see where my standards and habits were sliding downward. It wasn’t just everyone else. And it is funny how we all like to compare our shortcomings and mistakes with someone who may be doing things a little worse than we are. We puff our chest out slightly, lift our chin and say, “at least we are not like them.”
I was lowering my standards and accepting what I should not. It is easier to stay quiet while offensive people blatantly make everyone around them uncomfortable. Over time, the offensive is normalized, and a new standard is in place. Years ago, working for the Sheriff’s Office in Nashville, Tennessee, I witnessed how quickly an environment can change.
worked at the Offender Re-entry Center for about a year. Inmates were locked up but released to work. Most inmates behaved because they were one step away from getting their freedom back. However, when they began transferring inmates from the nearby prison into our pod, the entire unit changed immediately.
Suddenly, their hardcore influence began to rub off on those who were doing well. Every kind of illegal activity began to run rapidly, and the standards changed. It wasn`t until those inmates were removed and sent back to prison that things calmed down. Without the bad influences, inmates would get their focus back on the right things.
A little eleven leavens the whole lump.
Not that we have to be overly confrontational either. But when no one speaks up or walks out, the madness continues. So we adjust to lower and lower acceptable behavior over time. Hollywood and television have played a significant role in the downward trajectory of morality and sensitivity of Americans. Things once considered out of Line and inappropriate are now are generally accepted and tolerated. And the term they now use for sinful is the word “progressive.” As if somehow depravity and sin are new things just discovered.
Becoming more selective in your choices will make a difference in your life. In turn, your life can positively influence those around you. At the very least, we must quit thinking that these types of entertainment that we allow in our lives do not affect our beliefs, views, and behaviors.
We cannot control other people or society in general. What we can control are our own decisions. Be proactive in your life and not just a spectator. Speak up when someone is offensive and bringing about harm to others.
Achieving our goals and plans isn`t easy, and many never do. But, it requires planning and taking consistent effort and actions. We must place the real blame and responsibility squarely on our shoulders. We must first own up to our decisions. What if you hopped in a car and started driving. For hours then days paying no attention to where you were going. Where would you end up? It could be a good place, or it could be a horrible place. But most likely, you are just someplace lost and confused.
Would you then begin to wonder how God would allow you to end up in such a place? Or resent your friends for failing to inform you or protect you from yourself? Finally, you conclude that life is not fair, and no one else has to experience this feeling of being lost and alone the way you do. After all, the only thing you did was go for a ride. It sounds quite ridiculous, yet that is precisely what many of us do with our lives. Maybe not in every area of life, but overall, we give little thought to living with intention and focus. That often includes the consequences of our decisions and actions.
And what is most disturbing is that many people today suggest that all religion leads to heaven. Not only does that make no sense at all, but it is also a lie from the Devil. Do all roads lead to your house? Not likely, and we cannot ignore what is revealed in the word of God and His son Jesus as the only way to Him and somehow get a free pass from our sin.
If you want to do anything in life, even to have a fulfilling life with your family, it will take effort, sacrifice, planning, and perseverance.
In this constant flow of interruptions and information, we all deal with many difficult choices. Who and what we listen to plays a big role in all our lives. As wickedness, deception, and sin increase we can ignore it and go with the flow, or chose the better road and follow Christ.
Put truth in your mind. “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.”
We must be intentional with our lives and realize that all roads do not lead to the same destination.
Psalm 18:28-32