rewind

My lovely wife, Jan, forwarded this missive that she posted a few years ago.  It is well worth re-reading and strongly chewing upon.

Subject: Truly Liberated: Detoxing Your Mind

In my quest for better health, I have read alot about detoxing my body.
Fasting for a period of time and then re-introducing only good healthy foods
back into your body.  Interesting thought...I know I could use that!

As Steve and I were riding to Round Rock yesterday to visit with his mother
and sister for Mother's Day, Steve started talking about how stupid we are
as a people...God's people, specifically.  Of course, we got in trouble from
the "word patrol" in the back seat for saying stupid but Steve went on to
explain his thought.  Basically, (not verbatim) we say one thing and do
another.  We say we want to be like Christ.  We say we want to be holy
because He wants us to be holy.  We say we want to influence the world
through our actions and how our life has changed BUT...we don't change
anything.  We can't be like Christ, be holy and influence others
(non-believers specifically) if we DO everything that they do...what is the
difference.  We went on to discuss TV and movie viewing and other influences
in our lifes.  (You need to know that I have been wanting to "do away" with
the TV, VCR and movies for a number of years now but we are not in
agreement...yet :))

This morning as I was walking, I started talking to God about what He
wanted...how can we really make a shift in our lifes.
He brought to mind the concept of detoxing.  You eliminate all the bad stuff
and slowly reintroduce the good stuff.  WOW!

We have as a family have "fasted" TV for the month of December.  We have
done it for two years and I love it!!!  On Christmas day, we watch movies
that we have received as presents and then on New Years Day we watch movies
and then...back to normal. But that is not detoxing...that is just fasting
and going about as usual.  I have done that with my body too...fasting for a
time for lots of reasons (diet, waiting on a
answer...) but then went right back to the way things were.

In the interest of my family's "health", I am wondering what effect detoxing
our lifes would look like.  What would be eliminated?  What would be added?
What would be the results?  Would anyone noticed?
Would we be changed?  Or is it
a frutal attempt at a much bigger problem.  I also wonder, what would happen
to the "industries" that are supported by our habits...would it make a
difference if all the Christians started acted like Christians...would the
standards change?  Would we really be able to influence the industries, our
neighbors, our families by taking a stand...one person at a time?

What would you have to give up today to detox your mind and the mind of your
children?
What would you replace it with?
Would it have "eternal" value?

It is overwhelming to think of the possibilities.  I think I will choose one
thing each day that I will "detox" from my life and fill it with "whatever
is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is
lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy", I
think I will think about such things.
(Phillipians 4:8)  Will you join me? "And the God of peace will be with you"
(Phillipians 4:10)

On my way to being TRULY LIBERATED,


Jan