By Ephesians 4:17-24 Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learned Christ!— assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
My wife Karie and I have four children. Two of them are out of the home and two in. The two left at home are 8 and 9. We are not football fans. Matter of fact, Karie and I went to a movie last night during the Super Bowl. We got home and decided to watch whatever was left in the game. It was the beginning of the fourth quarter and seems like that was the best part to watch anyhow. Our two little ones were staying at a relatives house and were going to watch the game. As we watched, it dawned on my beloved to see what the half time show was about. She checked her social media and read some things. I text the family member the kids were staying at simply to ask if our kids had watched the halftime show. They had. Okay, now what?
After the game, we found the halftime show on YouTube and watched it. It grieves us to think of our littles ones having those images imprinted in their minds. We will go pick them up soon as their stay is up, but here is what I am planning to say. And Lord willing we will have the wisdom to foresee things like this next time.
Hey kiddo’s, did you have a good time? Did you get a chance to watch the Super Bowl? What did you think of the game? Do you have any concerns about what you saw? Did you happen to watch the halftime show where the singing and dancing happened? Do you have any thoughts you want to talk about? No? Well, we have some thoughts and wanted to share.
Feel my hands. Do you know what those are right there? Yes, they are callouses. I get them from working with my hands and they are a good thing. They don’t just appear on my hands after one day of work, but by many days of doing the same sorts of things. Callouses on the hands are good things as they help to protect me. Do you know that there are other types of callouses? People can have callouses on their heart. Do you think a callous on the heart would be good like having a callous on the hand? You’re right, a callous covering a hand makes it hard and protects the hand from harm. This type of callous starts from the outside and works it’s way in. A callous on the heart is just the opposite; it starts from the inside and works it’s way out. A callous heart is a hard heart and it shows itself on the outside of a person in certain ways. Would you like to know which ways?
God’s word in Ephesians tells us there is a way of walking in this world which shows a futile mind. Futilely means devoid of truth and we and others can walk in the world devoid of truth. We don’t want to walk without truth because Jesus is the truth remember? And to walk in this world without truth is to be without Jesus. Anyhow, the person who walks in this world without truth has a darkened understanding and is alienated from the life of God. Alienated means to be shut out and out of fellowship. “Why would God alienate someone daddy?” Oh, it’s not God that does the alienating; Ephesians tells us they are the ones who have alienated themselves from God because of ignorance, and because their heart has become hard or calloused. The proof that their hearts have become like this is that they have given themselves up to sensuality, and are greedy to practice every kind of impurity.
Do you remember the halftime show? It is very sad, but those very young ladies are ignorant of the love that God has for them. They are ignorant and so they danced before you and millions of other people in a sensual way, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. Do you think getting all of their dance steps to be in unison took practice? Yes it did. Lots of practice. They practiced impurity until they got it perfect and then were paid money to do so.
This is not the way you have learned Christ thought right? Let’s pray for both of the lead singers by name and then for all of the young ladies that danced along with them. Also let’s remember that Jesus came into the world to seek and save them which are lost. Let’s also pray for you both that the Lord would remove the images you saw and help you do not desire to mimic anything you saw.
Do you have any questions? We love you are are sorry we did not protect your eyes from seeing what you saw.
Daddy
Leading Family Devotions 