This week, I had the unfortunate problem of my internet connection going out. In this high-tech world, not being connected even for one hour irritates the fire out of me. It shouldn't but it does. Anyway, I called the cable company who sent someone to my house to fix it. Before they did, they tried to troubleshoot it with me and so forth. Nothing worked! He said he would have to send someone out to check it out in a few hours. That was great and as I was about to hang up, he said, "Mr. Qualls, we are running a special right now on the movie packages. You get Showtime, Cinemax, and the Movie Channel for only $5 a month. That's 18 channels for $5.00 forever."
I have to be honest, having these channels in my house is not a good idea. I have dealt with this "pet sin" in my life over the years. Given - I never have paid for these channels, but have always gotten them for free or had them for a free preview weekend. Not to say that is ok, but it is how I rationalized it. Having these channels was a problem for me, because I ended watching movies I had no business watching - hearing language I did not need to hear, watching violence and other crude stuff that I did not need to be in my mind. Not only would I watch these movies, but I would scroll ahead in the week and plan what I thought might be worth watching. Now you understand my issue with this and how tempting this was for me for a half a second.
In that brief moment as the cable operator waited for my response, many things went through my head of why I should or should not do it. For many of us, those split second decisions are the difference in following God or disobeying Him. We choose to go our way with allot of rationalizing or do what God would have us do. In those moments of temptation, may we choose to quit rationalizing, follow God and kick that pet sin outside to the doghouse.
By the way, I told the cable guy very politely, "no thank you". The picture above is of our boston terrier, "Chewbacca Butch Qualls", otherwise known as "Chewy".
so true!!! satan definitely has a way to get to us! can you imagine how many people took the offer? as you pointed out, there is so much that you expose your family to with an offer like this. i think the key to a decision like this is to do just what you did--allow yourself to think through the outcome of the decision. enjoyed the "pet sins" caption and will definitely use it in my decision making in the future!
ReplyDeleteDianne
A little late-----------but our SC governor might need to use it for future reference.
ReplyDeleteRev Kev, you are a wise man! Thank you for sharing yourself with us. We all have to think before we make a decision. Sometimes even the smallest ones can become Satan's way of hooking us with a "pet sin" we will have to deal with for a lifetime.
ReplyDeleteRev Kev you rock!!!!!!!!!!!!
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