Washington Conference of Seventh-day Adventists

By Doug Bing, Washington Conference president

The world we live in is a very sensory world. In fact, our senses are assaulted from all sides with all sorts of smells, sights, and sounds.

We hear about things that are really soft and cuddly and things that are really hard and durable. After every major event in Hollywood, the news tells us who looked the best and who looked the worst.

Have you ever noticed that when you are with a bunch of people and you open a jar and it smells bad that the first thing you do is say to your friends this smells bad? "Here, you smell it." If we know it smells bad, why do want others to smell it? We do the same with food. We say this tastes bad and then turn to someone and say here you try it.

Our senses are assaulted from all sides with advertisements, TV and movies and by our friends and family.

Yet in Psalms 119:37 David asks God to do a very important thing. “Turn away my eyes from looking at worthless thing, and revive me in your way.”

This new year as we think about our spiritual growth, this is a great text to remember and apply to our lives. It is a great text to pray each day in our world that is constantly vying for the attention of each of our senses.

This year, turn the TV off for a little longer, read good books, spend quality time with God, linger a bit longer at family worship or if you don’t have family worship start, find a prayer partner, and most of all ask God to revive you to follow in the way He would want you to go.