Fix your eyes on Jesus and not on ugliness

I was sitting in the lounge of a Christian radio station, waiting my turn to go into the studio and guest a talk show. Another Christian program, on the air at that moment, was being intercommed into the lounge, so I couldn't help but listen. It was gross. In the name of "exposing" the sins of our day, shocking activities were being described, filthy words were being repeated. I guess listener reaction was supposed to be to pray or send money. I thought about all the New Testament letters, written and circulated in an equally obscene world; the Roman culture was then in its last throes of degradation. But the Scriptures didn't describe the society's filth, they only warned against it; and then spent the space teaching the positive -- both in doctrinal truth and practical application for daily living. Never does Paul say Christians "need to be informed" of what they're fighting against so they can "pray intelligently." No, no! He says, "Stay ignorant!" Be wise about what is good, and innocent about what is evil (Romans 16:19). It is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret (Ephesians 5:12). How do you become "blameless and pure . . . in a crooked and perverse generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe" (Philippians 2:15)? Philippians 4:8 tells you how: Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable -- if anything is excellent or praiseworthy -- think about such things. Surrounded by ugliness, think beauty. Fix your eyes on Jesus. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Prayer: O Lord Jesus Christ, John saw You among the lampstands, with Your face shining like the sun in all its brilliance, and Your voice like the sound of rushing waters, and seven stars in Your right hand. I can't imagine how beautiful You must be. A rainbow encircles You, and before You is a sea of glass . . . an exquisitely pure reflecting pool . . . doubling all Your splendor. I see flashes of lightening from Your throne; I hear exploding peals of thunder; I smell heavenly incense from the golden bowls . . . My senses are dazzled. "How handsome you are, my lover! Oh, how charming!" (Song of Solomon 1:16). Almost without breath, "lost in wonder, love, and praise," I fix my eyes on You. * * * * * To remember Thee, to worship Thee, to confess to Thee, to praise Thee, to bless Thee, to hymn Thee, to give thanks to Thee, maker, nourisher, guardian, governor, preserver, worker, perfector of all, Lord and Father, King and God, fountain of life and immortality, treasure of everlasting goods, whom the heavens hymn, and the heaven of heavens, the angels and all the heavenly powers, one to another crying continually -- and we the while, weak and unworthy, under their feet -- Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Hosts; full is the whole heaven, and the whole earth, of the majesty of Thy glory . . .* _________ * Fragment of the private written devotions of Lancelot Andrewes (1555-1626), chaplain to Queen Elizabeth I and one of the translators of the 1611 King James Version of the Bible.