The other night I was driving down a street in my town, heading home from a long meeting. The houses in this particular area would be considered small and run-down by American standards. The roofs were in disrepair, paint was peeling or non-existent, cars were old and rusty, yards were filled with old children's toys and the occasional appliance. I was obviously in a low-income portion of Chanute. Then I noticed something very interesting. By glancing through windows as I drove down the street I could see that at least 50% of these homes had large, flat screen hdtv's entertaining the inhabitants.
I thought this fact to be an interesting commentary on American society. I want to be very careful about what I write in this post. I don't personally know the owners of any of those houses or the wide TV's in them. I don't know their financial situations. For all I know, some of them received those TV's as gifts or won them in sweepstakes. And I would be lying if I said I didn't have a (fleshly) desire lurking in me for the latest and greatest electronic entertainment in my house.
With all that being said, here is my main thought: I believe entertainment has become an abominable idol in our culture. Do our wooden entertainment centers and HDTV stands not look like altars in the centers of our homes? Do we not delight in the latest episodes of our favorite television shows more than the last church service we attended? Are there not millions of Americans who desire a fancy, shiny, high resolution TV so much that they are willing to go further into debt on their credit cards in order to purchase one? (I'm guessing that is the case on the street I mentioned to start this post.) Do we not yearn for entertainment? Do we not crave it? Do we not habitually worship at the altar of entertainment weekly and most probably daily?
And is this love for entertainment not a part of so many problems that plague Americans?
With all my heart, I believe that the spiritual health of the church in America is negatively affected by this issue more than any of us can imagine. I wonder what we will say to the Lord when we stand before him to give an account...
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