He’s the God of my bookshelf, too

I love everything having to do with literature. I love the smell of books. I love stories that make you think. I love creating my own stories. I love drawing connections between stories. I love the way my books somehow find their ways onto the floor, flung over the sofa, propped open next to the kitchen sink.

However, like anything, there is a good sort and a bad sort of literature. I would venture to define the good sort as thought-provoking, motivational, beautiful. Above all, it should inspire one to praise God.

The bad sort of literature is the harmful kind. It’s the kind of thing that inspires and desensitizes us of the fact that sin is bad, not to be excused.

Before I go on, I want to avoid sounding legalistic, so suffice it to say that if you honestly think something might be harmful to your weaknesses or sensitivities, then maybe that is not the best use of your time. It’s your mind, heart, and soul before God and you should do what is most pleasing to Him?

“The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light.” ~Matthew 6:22

I bring this to your attention because of this excellent Christian response  about the latest fad in romantic fiction, the ironically named 50 Shades of Gray.

Then, a few days ago, I unfortunately stumbled upon something even worse, a pornographic novel about my very favorite author, Louisa May Alcott, the author of Little Women. She has been a heroine to me from childhood, and to see that some dirty mind has defiled her memory by writing 50 Shades of Louisa May, I was more than disgusted.

Hopefully this will provoke some thought on the subject, because the idea of putting junk in your mind has many more far-reaching applications than just books.

I invite you to meditate on the things that fill your eyes and ears. What do you allow to nourish your mind? Perhaps it isn’t so much harmful as it is simply empty. Could empty be harmful as well?

Surely, we shouldn’t be putting anything so unholy in our minds. That is definitely NOT an gray area.

Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. ~Philippians 4:8