Becoming A Better Person

Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is [e]lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you. (Philippians 4:8-9)

One recent morning while driving long in my car, I had prayed and after prayer my hand hit the radio switch when I realized that this was not the morning I wanted or needed to hear the edgy, upbeat agitation that comes thru the radio. There is something about the tones and the usual news which pushes my anger buttons, along with the not so hidden truths in the jokes on the radio. I needed silence, time to collect myself, to establish myself in this day so that I can deal with the difficulties that accompany this particular day. I thought more deeply about why I didn’t want or need to hear the radio went a thought revealed itself somewhere between my heart and my head. The thought was this: “We become what we entertain.”
Then I adjusted the thought to this: “We become a lot of what we entertain.” Yes. That’s it. I don’t mind being upbeat but I don’t want to be on the edge of doing something wrong, and my ususal radio program will not help. What I need is, Philippians 2:5.  You know.   “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus…”. Then I said to myself, “I get it. One of the reasons that people are so crazy, so edgy, and violent, and so narcissistic is that they are entertaining themselves with crazy, edgy, narcissistic media and in the process, they take in a good bit of that constant entertainment from the violence in rap to the narcissistic shows like, uhhh, — ok, I won’t pick on American Idol or The Voice. I will pick on Sunday Best or some of the narcissistic Gospel awards programs.”  I need more power. My spirit needs more soothing and since I believe that we become a lot of what we entertain, I turned off the radio and focussed on Godliness.