The other night my husband and I were cuddling in bed together. He had his laptop out and I asked if we could watch a show or a movie together. We started a new episode of a T.V. series we had recently started. Within the first few seconds a sexually explicit scene came on.
My husband responded quickly to turn it off.
I was bummed. I knew it was inappropriate for us to continue watching, but there was a part of me that wanted to be able to still watch the show. So I asked my husband,
Can’t we just skip past that part?”
My husband looked over at me and said with conviction,
It isn’t pure.”
He reminded of the scripture in Philippians 4:8,
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”
He was right. It wasn’t pure. My husband was protecting our hearts and minds by turning off the show. It was a sign of his maturity and growth. There have been times in the past where both of us were not as quick to respond, brushing it off as not being that big of a deal. Now that my husband and I are walking in purity and victory from the sin of pornography we are sensitive to this type of situation.
I know what we did view in that opening scene, although it was only a few seconds, can be a trigger to be tempted into that sin of pornography again. And we don’t want to give our flesh or the enemy any room to tempt us.
Purity is power.
When we walk in purity, we protect our hearts, our minds, and our marriage!
I am blessed to have a husband that cares about living according to God’s Word. I am blessed to have a husband that is walking in purity. I am blessed to have a husband who wants to lead his wife by reminding her of God’s Word.
I should not have asked to just skip that part of the show. There would be no way to know if another graphic scene would come up later. I was not being an advocate of purity.
I chose to support my husband and I told him I understand. We haven’t mentioned that show again since this happened and we both understand that it is one we will not watch.
What we watch together – and what we watch alone – matters! Watching nudity and/or a sexually graphic scene in a movie or show impacts us. My husband and I both agree that those scenes are not pure. We understand the dangers and destruction caused by pornography.
Even seeing a glimpse of it stimulates us in ways that tempt us to want to sin again. We need to protect ourselves from this. Our culture and those producers that create movies and shows are not going to protect our hearts for us. We need to be advocates of purity for ourselves and for each other.
Over the years my husband and I have watched a lot less movies and shows. It can be frustrating because we enjoy the art of entertainment. But we cannot lower our standard of acceptability when it comes to impurity. Our marriage has been rocked by impurity and we will not let it creep back into our relationship.
What we watch matters because it influences us and it affects us. So when the Holy Spirit convicts our hearts to shut a show off or to leave a movie early, we are learning to operate in immediate obedience. Doing so has been a huge blessing to our marriage.
The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!” Matthew 6:22-23
I will not set before my eyes anything that is worthless. I hate the work of those who fall away; it shall not cling to me.” Psalm 101:3