The Bible says that God is Love, and the person who does not love does not know God (1 John 5:7). The beginning of love is self-love. God loves Himself because you cannot be that which you are not, and you cannot give what you do not possess. God is love; therefore, God loves God. I am an expression of God’s love. God made me in His image and in His likeness (Genesis 1). Thus, I am love. Whether I express this love or not is up to me. This is why the scriptures says that the person who does not love does not know God ( 1 John 5:7). Furthermore, the person who does not love does not know her or himself spiritually. Darkness covers the person’s mind.
The Bible states that the gospel is hidden to people who are not in Christ because the spirit of this age has darkened the minds of those who do not believe in Christ, so that they lack the ability to understand the message about Christ that reveals the truth of Christ, “who is the image of God” (2 Corinthians 4:3-4).
The book of Matthew states in 13:14-15 that "In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah
“You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.”"
In the book of Ephesians 4:17-19, the Apostle Paul writes,
“So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed.”
Indulging in sensuality will dull the spiritual senses. If I choose to feed a sensual habit more than my spiritual habit, the sensual habit becomes the dominant habit. For example, if I choose to watch television 5 to 12 hours a day instead of studying materials that will increase my spiritual knowledge for the same amount of time then television watching is my dominant habit.
From this television habit, I may develop a couple of mind altering conditions. The first condition switches my thoughts from active engagement thinking to passive acceptance thinking. In active engagement thinking, I am able to think logically, analytically, and come to my own conclusions about information presented. In contrast, passive acceptance thinking alters my mind to a type of meditative state where I easily accept suggestions without analysis during the time that I am watching television. During this time, my mind is continually hit with suggestions from various interest groups such as advertisers, politicians, and the program’s writers, producers, and directors. Even after I stop watching television, my mind may remain in a suggestive state for a period and vulnerable to suggestions.
Once again, the Bible states that the gospel is hidden to individuals who do not believe in Christ because the spirit of this age has darkened their minds so that they lack the ability to understand the message and truth about Christ, “who is the image of God” (2 Corinthians 4:3-4).
I must renew my mind daily with the Word of God to counteract the suggestions that I receive from watching television and other electronic devices multiple hours a day. Meditation in the word of God, and actually reading printed, paper books engages the mind and may break the suggestive condition placed on it by watching television and other electronic devices many hours daily.
God is love, and I am love. I intend to love myself to the fullest by keeping my mind open to the Spirit of God and closed to the spirit of this age. A mind open to God’s love is a mind open to the all the mysteries of God that are hidden in Christ (Colossians 2:2). Beauty is a mystery hidden in Christ.
References
Robert Kubey and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi . (n.d.). Television Addiction--A Growing Problem. In All About Life's Challenges. Retrieved July 30, 2012, from http://www.allaboutlifechallenges.org/television-addiction.htm.
Bibliography
Seeing the beauty in everything and everyone is the key to seeing the beauty in yourself.
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