Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved by him, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly explaining the word of truth.              2 Timothy 2:15

One evening my family was gone and I had the house to myself. I could either watch TV or do the homework from my weekly Bible study. The lure of mindlessly watching TV was strong, but I decided to go with Bible study instead. For two hours, I dug into the scriptures. I found myself eagerly looking up words in the dictionary to clarify their meaning, following up on references to Bible verses, and reading commentary notes.  When I finally finished my lesson and closed my Bible, I felt refreshed, optimistic, and at peace. I don’t remember ever feeling refreshed or happy after a couple hours of watching TV. Was this a coincidence? The next time I had the house to myself, once again I occupied myself with Bible study instead of TV, and once again I came away feeling much better for it.

I’m not saying I never watch TV; far from it. But these days, I make the intentional choice to spend more time with God and less time with mindless entertainment.

Heavenly God, help us to take advantage of time we can spend with you so that we may renew our thinking and be transformed. Amen.