Wednesday, July 6, 2011

July 7, 2011

"The LORD is my light and my salvation— whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life— of whom shall I be afraid? When the wicked advance against me to devour me, it is my enemies and my foes who will stumble and fall. Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear; though war break out against me, even then I will be confident."  Psalm 27:1-3

It occured to me this morning that this whole Casey Anthony circus serves as a good example of the point I have been trying to make concerning the importance of discipline in worship. Here in these verses the Psalmist demonstrates his discipline by staying focused on the greatness of His God even in the midst of attacks from his enemies. Rather than allowing his attention to be drawn to his problems he keep his spirit directed toward God.

Here we are facing some of the most perilous threats in the history of our nation and perhaps, all of humanity and most of the media devotes hundreds of hours of TV time to following this trial. Why not direct all that time and attention on reporting about the growing instability in the Middle East that are on the verge of war? Why not devote time and attention to our debt crisis that threatens to collapse our economy? Greece in on the brink of economic disaster. So is Portugal and Spain. California just passed a law requiring their schools to add a class teaching gay history. Thousands of innocent people are being by murdered by Mexican drug lords just south of our border and some of it is spilling across into Texas and Arizona and New Mexico.

While all of these serious and substantive matters have potential to destroy nations or even destroy large portions of the earth, what are we focused on? A bizarre soap opera masquerading as a murder trial is where all the time and media attention has been devoted. Why? Because it gets ratings!

So, our media which for two centuries has been entrusted with the task of protecting our republic by keeping the public informed on the relevent issues of our time, has sold its soul and defaulted on its constitutional responsibility for good ratings. This is the modern equivalent of Nero fiddling while Rome burned.

That detestable lack of discipline by these "professionals" in the news business has contributed to a culture that majors on the minors while the major issues go underreported. If they were true to their traditional role in serving the public interest they would discipline themselves to focus on the "real" news that affects the daily lives and future of American citizens even if it meant less revenue.

But, in the same way, if you don't discipline your desires to seek after God and His Word and His will, you will also chase after entertainment rather than edifaction and spiritual growth.

Worship happens only when you disicpline your desires to concentrate on what matters most. Worship doesn't happen by accident. Seeking God is a result of learned disciplines that keep us focused on the eternal issues not on entertaining things.

Discipline your desires or your desires with destroy you.