Eye Covenant

Audience bonding

Today, I would like us to consider an eye covenant. I enjoy a good movie. My son and grandson just went to the movie theater for the first time in nearly two years. They saw Disney’s Jungle Cruise and thoroughly enjoyed it. My grandson came home and told me I should watch it because it’s full of puns; I’m notoriously known for my dad puns.

Movie theaters are rather remarkable. They compress a small portion of humanity into a common, shared experience. Often, people within our proximity spontaneously bond together through the shared experience of the film.

I remember, decades ago, watching “Smokey and the Bandit” starring Burt Reynolds, Sally Field, and Jerry Reed. The entire audience bonded. It was the last showing of the night, letting out after midnight. The movie so pumped young guys that they “burned rubber” as they drove out of the parking lot. I was a Christian but owned a high-performance Camaro, so I may have left some of my tires on the pavement; I’m not saying I did, but it’s possible. 😉

Revenge

Now, there is a genre of movies that many have slipped into watching that is very displeasing to God. I’m not referring to sex movies; we all know that’s wrong. But what may not be apparent as sin are revenge movies. We live in the age of antiheroes.

Now stop rolling your eyes; give me a chance to show you. When I say that revenge movies are displeasing to God, you probably think of Romans 12:19:

And what Jesus said about this topic is recorded in Matthew 5:39:

Does God Really Care?

You can’t wiggle your way around these verses. “Oh, this movie shows a woman getting the revenge she deserves. Blah, Blah, Blah” In our flesh, revenge is justified because it’s buried deep within our DNA. These verses, but I want us to consider a verse that gives us no wiggle room.

God hates all who do evil. His judgment of liars is without remorse. And God hates murderers and deceivers. How can we, as Christians, be entertained by things that God hates? Movies that feature antiheroes who go about killing people because of some harm that the audience is told justifies vengeance are lies, and they displease God. Now pay special attention to verse six: the Lord detests, despises, and hates murderers (bloodthirsty) and deceivers.

“Death Wish,” featuring Charles Bronson, might be your all-time favorite movie. I hate to break it to you, but God hates that movie, and it saddens Him when you watch it. Now, I know that some of you strongly disagree with me. I know because I resisted when God convicted me about this movie.

My Eye Covenant

We should learn from what Job said, as recorded in Job 31:1; “I have made a covenant with my eyes…” I pray that we, too, make a covenant with our eyes and look at things with purity and holiness. Many movies are fun and thoroughly enjoyable, and they don’t have to be sappy romance movies. 😉 However, in all movies we watch, we should be comfortable with Jesus sitting with us and sharing our popcorn.

Photo by Krists Luhaers on Unsplash

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