Counsels on Relationships

Counsel #23 — Protect Your Mind

Picture: Counsel #23 — Protect Your Mind CR 257.1

It’s easy to think that what we watch, read, or listen to doesn’t really affect us, but that’s just a lie from the enemy! Watching movies, listening to music, or reading books that glamorize lust, emotional manipulation, or selfish romance can subtly distort your view of love, marriage, and intimacy. CR 257.2

Entertainment that promotes unrealistic relationships or impulsive desire can fuel feelings of discontent in your real-life relationship. Looking at other worldly relationships can lead to comparison, fantasy, and even impure thoughts that will leave you disconnected from the person you’ve committed to. God’s design for love is not reckless or overly sexualized; it’s seen through faithfulness, patience, and self-sacrifice. Philippians 4:8 urges us to dwell on things that are noble, pure, and lovely, and that includes what we invite into our minds and emotions through a screen or speaker. Overall, protecting your imagination by guarding your five senses — the avenues to your soul — will protect your relationship. The way you think shapes what you desire, and what you desire influences how you love.^[275] CR 257.3

“Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” Proverbs 4:23 NIV CR 257.4

“Yet we have a work to do to resist temptation.” Ellen White in From Eternity Past, p. 325 CR 257.5

Reflect: Is the media you consume nurturing real love, or feeding a fantasy that draws you away from truth? How can you filter out the things that aren’t of God? CR 257.6