“My people have forgotten what it means to do right.” says the LORD.
Amos 3:10a NLT
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It’s been awhile since I’ve sat down on a Saturday morning and binge-watched cartoons. However, this past week the kids have had no school AND access to cable channels we don’t have at home so I definitely got my fill. In this, I noticed two things:
- All the good cartoons are gone.
- Contemporary cartoons reference topics like mythical gods and soul stealing as super casual comedy agendas.
I’m not going to go all soap-box about this but it really struck me. I started polling my kids after each show to see the impact that theme had on them. I found out that it’s really hard to separate [fictional fun] from [true concepts that carry eternal weight] at a kindergarten level… especially when the shows that make them giggle treat the two concepts as equally silly.
It made me pause and reflect on the things I might give cartoon worth to in my own life. Where, in my life, do I make light of something that carries eternal value?
In the book of Amos (10th book from the end of the Old Testament) God used a simple shepherd named Amos to remind the people that they were off track again. It’s amazing how many times God gives second (and 102nd) chances. This time the message was that the people were SO FAR OFF TRACK that they forgot what it means to do right.
“‘My people have forgotten what it means to do right,’ says the LORD. ‘Their fortresses are filled with wealth taken by theft and violence.'” (Amos 3:10 NLT)
Even though they were surrounded by evidence of their corruption, they didn’t see it. Am I so surrounded by jokes, I don’t see what to take seriously anymore? Is there something in my life that is right in front of my face – like the fortresses filled with wealth taken by theft and violence – that I’ve become comfortable with? Is there a place in my life that I’ve forgotten how to care for and have let become as casual as referencing soul stealing in a cartoon?
I want to be more intentional about my words, thoughts and actions. I want to make a commitment in my own life that there are some things we can joke about (noisy/stinky bodily functions & who’s on first) and some things we treat with more respect (a soul).
Challenge: This week, where else can my family and I remember what it means to do right?
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Dear Lord, thank you for letting even small things like cartoons remind me of you. Thank you for seeing my soul as more than just a giggle. Please help me take the time to be intentional about what goes in my eyes, ears, mouth AND soul… let my family and I not forget what it means to do right. Amen.
Something that took a long time for me to wrap my head around is the idea of serving two masters: I can’t adequately serve God when I’m preoccupied by the distractions of this world. So I’ve identified this, but I still haven’t mastered it. It is so easy for me to fall back to old, comfortable habits, wrong as they may be. Your message this weeks shines a great light on this for me. Thank you Emily!