Tune it out. Turn it off.

I have a confession to make: My occasional “guilty pleasure” is watching The Bachelor (yes, the one where you get to hear the bachelor and dozens of women say week in and week out, “I came here looking for love”).   Bit by bit, I have been sucked into the drama of this reality dating show.  Who will get the first impression rose?  Who will be sent home?  And that sneak peek on next week’s catfight…which woman will subject the other to tears?   Society’s idea of love has become so twisted.  Seriously, who in search of “true love” goes on a national game show where the prize is a marriage proposal?  In the midst of all the drama and conflict that arises from twenty plus women trying to share and ultimately win one man, standards and morals are thrown out the window.  It all comes down to attention.  Who’s getting it?  Who’s not?  This drama unfolds as these women throw themselves at the bachelor day after day.  They are willing to humiliate themselves on national television and give themselves to a man who is in a relationship with several other women.  Are they really ready to love and marry a man who is in a relationship with countless other women, many of whom he can’t decide on?  And if they do make it to the end and are proposed to, what happens after the cameras are off and all the extravagant dates come to an end?  Real life hits.  The result?  Most often, it is break-up.  And for those few couples who actually do go through with the marriage, even fewer last.  So, what are the messages I am bombarded with?  When it comes to love, it’s all a competition.  Ultimately, the thinking goes something like this: Do what you gotta do to get the man.  Yes, even if this means compromising yourself and doing and saying things you normally wouldn’t!

How then, is this message God-glorifying?  Let me put is simply: It isn’t.  So why do I continually and willingly (even eagerly at times) subject myself to something that I know stands in complete opposition to everything I claim and believe to be true?  I may be like the child C.S. Lewis describes when he writes, “We are half-hearted creatures like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”  Yes, I am sadly far too easily pleased (or entertained, or whatever other word you would like to use). My identity is in Christ, and I need not (and should not) look to these things to satisfy me.  I was intentionally and purposefully created by my heavenly Father, and as a daughter of the King who is washed in Christ’s blood, I am precious.  I am His, and I am set apart.  All children of the King are.  We were made for HIM.

What does the Bible say on being set apart in a fallen world?  Well, it has a lot to say!  Here are a few verses:

Matthew 10:16 “Be wise as serpants and innocent as doves.”

1 Peter 1:16  “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”

1 Peter 5:8 “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”

1 Peter 2:9 “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”

Romans 12:1-2 “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.  Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

1 Corinthians 6:19 “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, you were bought with a price.”

Galatians 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

1 Peter 2:1-5 “So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”

Galatian 5:1 “For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.”

Psalm 119:9 “How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word.”

That’s convicting!  The Bible is clear that as a Christian, I am called to be different.  Keep in mind, however, that does not and should not stem from a “holier than thou” attitude.  Rather, my love and gratitude towards my Lord and Savior for saving me from myself should overflow into every area of my life, permeating and influencing all that I do—from the words I say, to the things I let my thoughts dwell on, and to the things I allow to fill my time, all of it should be done with the intent of bringing honor and glory to Jesus Christ.  

And so, that being said, can I watch The Bachelor to the glory and honor of Christ? I think not.  Maybe there is a way, but I certainly haven’t found it yet (and even if I did, I think it would be quite the stretch). I do, however, like what John R. Rise writes: “Any pleasure that would keep you from Christ is a sinful pleasure that will doubtless cause you anguish, heartache, tears and remorse.”  Does this sound extreme?  Could watching The Bachelor really do this to me?  Well, the show per se might not, but its messages can and will if I give them a hold on my mind and heart. 

We must examine our lives for areas in which we are still living for ourselves, areas which are likely causing discontentment. Is there anything that is tempting us towards discontentment or even compromise?  If so, we mustn’t put up with it.  Tune it out.  Turn it off.  That is what I am doing, starting with The Bachelor.  The world will take every opportunity to whisper in our ears, and so we must guard ourselves against the incessant murmurings that seek to wear us down and draw us in.   I am called to be set apart, and as believers, we are all called to higher standard.  I am not saying that christians cannot watch The Bachelor.  I am merely saying that for me, it is something I have been convicted about so I am choosing to tune it out and turn it off.