Edify Your Brothers and Sisters. When we consider how we will have fun or be entertained, we should ask ourselves how we can build up others through it, because the Bible says, “Let all things be done for edification” (1 Cor. 14:26; cf. Rom. 15:2). This principle can be stated negatively as well, in the sense that we should never do anything that causes a brother or sister to sin (Rom. 14:13; 1 Cor. 8:13). This is especially important in regard to the issue of entertainment, because it is such a matter of the heart, and different hearts respond in different ways to what they see and hear. For example, you may be able to listen to a certain type of music with a clear conscience, but someone else might experience flashbacks to his sinful past when he hears that music, and be tempted to sin. So if you crank that music up while he is riding in your car, you could become a stumbling block to your brother.
In Luke 17:1-2 Jesus says, “It is inevitable that stumbling blocks should come, but woe to him through whom they come! It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea, than that he should cause one of these little ones to stumble.” The term “little ones” includes all believers, but it has special reference to children, who can be so easily influenced by the schemes of Satan. And as someone once said, “Where we walk, our children will run.” If you love the world too much, your children will probably love it with an unholy passion. If you expose them to too much evil before they have developed sufficient skills of discernment, they will fall under its spell and be spiritually ruined. So be careful that you do not hurt your brothers or sisters, especially the “little ones,” by the entertainment choices you make. And the next principle, in my next post, will keep you from hurting yourself...
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