Oh, Be Careful Little Eyes...

By: Melanie Moore

Each weekend, I sit down with my planner and create a meal plan for the week. I check all of our appointments, work schedule, ballgames, practices, etc. to create a list of the days we will be eating at home. Then, I create the list of (hopefully somewhat healthy-ish) meals for the week. I know that if I create a meal plan for the week, we are more likely to eat healthy meals at home rather than ordering takeout or getting fast food when we are starving at 6:00 with no plans or groceries.

As I thought about this routine, I realized that I try to be very intentional with what food we use to nourish our physical bodies. Lately, I haven't been as careful with what I eat, and I can tell a difference! My clothes don't fit as well, and my energy level has been dragging a bit. In order to feel better, I know that I need to be more careful about what I'm eating to nourish my body well.

In the same way, I realized that I need to be careful in what enters my heart and mind as well as my body. There is a song we used to sing as children that says: "Oh be careful little eyes what you see". Anything that enters our minds and hearts through our eyes is just like food. It has a direct effect on our spiritual health so we need to be very careful in what we look at.

"Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things;
and give me life in your ways."
Psalm 119:37 (ESV)

Social media, TV, movies, books, the internet in general.... it's all filled with images, videos, and content that can either be spiritual nourishing to us or spiritually harmful. We need to be careful with what we see. Is it pleasing to God? Does it point us to God or draw us farther away? Are we focused on sights that are spiritually nourishing and life giving? Or, do our eyes seek out things that the Holy Spirit is nudging us to realize are harmful?

Today's Challenge

Join me in taking a few moments to think about all the images and content we see on a regular basis. Let's examine it together -- is there any content that you need to step away from? Perhaps anyone you need to unfollow on social media or any TV shows or movies you need to stop watching? Instead, what are some spiritual nourishing content that you can make more time for? Are there any social media accounts that challenge you to seek out time with God? Any books that you could read and spiritually nourish your heart? I challenge you to join me in making smart swaps to protect our eyes and our hearts!

Today's Prayer

Lord, we thank you for the gift of eyesight. I pray that you will help us to guard what our eyes see and to think about ways we can use our eyesight to honor you. Please convict our hearts when we look on something we should not, and I pray you will draw us to look upon those things that point us to you. In Jesus' name, Amen.