What are you looking at?

Everything you see on television is designed to grab your attention. Commercials preview the latest hamburger available at your local fast food restaurant. Maybe this time there’s three patties instead of two.

The same is true of your social media feed. Using your index finger you slowly scroll through images on your mobile phone; all of which are aimed to get to pause and admire the person who’s updated their profile picture or their relationship status.

Magazine covers used to pull you in, though those are becoming less in number these days. You’d stop on your way to the checkout counter and see which movie star was dating which athlete and couldn’t wait to hear the latest gossip of the Hollywood scene.

We all do it. It’s the world we live in. But as Christians, we’re called to be in the world but not of the world. In 1 Peter 1:13-25, the Apostle calls us to live a holy life. In fact, 1 Peter 1:15 (NLT) reads, “But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy.”

I think some people misconstrue the word holy to mean sacred or godly. While there’s some truth to that, “holiness” is commonly defined as being separate or set apart. So when Peter writes of being holy, it’s in regard to being set apart by God for his purpose.

But what does that have to with what we’re looking at? Everything! Go back to 1 Peter 1:13 (NLT). It reads, “So prepare your minds for action and exercise self-control. Put all your hope in the gracious salvation that will come to you when Jesus Christ is revealed to the world.”

Preparing one’s mind and exercising self-control cannot take place if you allow yourself to become swallowed up by the world’s system of flashy advertisements, salacious relationships, or self-indulgent behaviors. All of those things are intended to take your focus away from God.

Television, social media, magazines, and other forms of entertainment and news are not, of themselves, inherently wicked. But when we allow ourselves to take our focus off the Lord Jesus Christ and instead turn our attention to things of this world, we become vulnerable.

1 Peter 1:14 (NLT) says, “So you must live as God’s obedient children. Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn’t know any better then.” You didn’t know better then, but you do now. So what are you looking at?