Filling Your Home With Beauty
“I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way. O when wilt thou come unto me? I will walk within my house with a perfect heart. I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me. A froward [disobedient] heart shall depart from me: I will not know a wicked person. Whoso privily slandereth his neighbor, him will I cut off…Mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me: he that walketh in a perfect way, he shall serve me” (Psalm 101:2-6).
What fills your home? Are you careful about what you allow in it? What do you watch on TV and on the Internet? What accounts do you follow on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter? Do you only follow the faithful of the land? Some will say that we should follow those whom we disagree with. We should be open minded and know what others are thinking. I disagree. I only follow those who are wise and truthful. I have no desire to follow those who are full of lies and deceit.
There are few good things left on TV. Dear women, you must be very wise about what you set before your eyes and your children’s eyes. It does affect you for good or evil. We are commanded to dwell upon the good and the lovely (Philippians 4:8) for our good. All of God’s commands are for our good. Stop watching “The Bachelor” and other shows that mock the ways of the Lord. Give up watching TV if you can’t find anything good to watch. This would be far better than filling your minds with things that aren’t of God.
Get rid of all of the worldly and wicked people you may follow on social media. Seek out those who love the Lord and obey Him. Learn from them instead. We don’t need to know what Hollywood people are up to or what they think about things. God tell us to dwell upon the faithful in the land so obey Him. Teach your children to do the same.
We are told to “Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name” (Psalm 100:4). This is how we need to be living our days, not fretting and worrying about our future. God owns the future, so there is no need to fear. Remember, the Proverbs 31 woman rejoices in the time to come. Let us do likewise.
Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any praise, think on these things.
Philippians 4:8
13 thoughts on “Filling Your Home With Beauty”
What if you are trying to guard your home and protect your children from these influences but your husband is not?
You do what you can and leave your husband’s choices up to the Lord. It’s far better for your children to see a loving, submissive mother to their father than a mother who is continually upset with their father’s choices. Teach your children God’s Word daily and have them memorize verses. Show them the goodness of the Lord and pray for your husband. Let the Lord deal with him.
Yes. I grew up in a wonderful home, but the things I was allowed to watch and with absolutely no restriction of interent use, I was exposed to a lot. I had a very early exposure to the horror genre (I saw Stephen King’s IT when I was three), and I became obsessed. I loved horror movies, novels, podcasts, ghost hunting — pretty much anything that was meant to scare you, I LOVED it. All this later led to me becoming interested in the occult which brought me nothing but nightmares, paranoia, depression, and anxiety. Even now, I still find myself drawn to “spooky” things, and I have to be very careful to not get caught up in all of that evilness again — Halloween is difficult because it’s everywhere. The occult life is addicting, and I know from experience, it’s very hard to get out of once you get yourself involved. Protect your kids.
TV was never something I was addicted to or dependent on, like so many others. I never had it on to fill silence when I lived alone. It was always a conscious thought to watch something. It still is. I’ve always loved watching sports, but I’ve given that up because it’s no longer entertainment. These days, if you find my TV on, you’ll likely see Andy Griffith or Dragnet on MeTV.
Maybe Monk.
I was always interested in Crime stories. Probably why I majored in Criminal Justice in college. I love mysteries, but have taken to reading what is called Cozy Mysteries. My current reads are an Amish trilogy, a book on the Saints, a Flavia de Luce mystery, & a book about rationing in Britain during WW2. And, of course, I read my bible daily, along with a little daily reader.
I didn’t really make a conscious decision to do any of this stuff. I’ve never been a fan of celebs since I had a crush on Donny Osmond when I was 8 or 9.
Life has become so harsh as of late that the bits and blurbs I see/hear everywhere is more than enough. For crying out loud, DO WE NEED TVs EVERYWHERE? Every office or restaurant now has TV. Ugh. I’m so grateful when the volume is on mute so I can pretend it isn’t there!!
To Debby in Kansas USA, since you mentioned seeing TVs on mute, why not try watching TV on mute for a while, and maybe you can get an idea why without captions or subtitles, deaf people don’t get much out of watching TV. I say this because I was born deaf.
This is the most perfect response. Thank you Lori!
My situation is similar to Megan’s and I needed this.
When my husband and I were looking to buy a larger home, one thing I noticed was that 99% of the homes we looked at had a massive tv smack bang in the middle of the room. Or worse, every bedroom and the kitchen etc. Big turn off. One night however after just about giving up on finding and praying for the right home, my husband asked me to look at just one more house. As soon as I saw the first picture I told him that was the house. As we looked further through the simply furnished home, we noticed some small Christian prints in various rooms of the home. Lo and behold it turns out to of belonged to a conservative Christian couple who had been praying a Christian family would buy it! There was only one small tv in the home as well. But it was so sad to see that most houses seemed to have a tv as the centre of attention.
My husband and I made an offer on a house a few years ago. There was literally a TV in every room in the house, except the bathroom. The main living spaces and in every single bedroom. Amazing.. .in a bad way. And two of the bedrooms belonged to children 10 and under. ?
Fast and pray. Read the Old Testament book of Esther . Ask God to cleanse you and set you free from any bitterness, wrong attitudes, etc. Approach your husband lovingly and respectfully with your concerns-when he is neither tired nor hungry. Have a “fast Friday” weekly where you skip one meal (if not pregnant or nursing). Our husbands and children can use all the prayers we give them no matter the situation!?
This is such an important post Lori! My husband and I just canceled Netflix and made the switch to Pureflix. We don’t actually have a TV in our home but will occasionally allow our children (4 and 6) to watch a show on our little laptop while the 2 year old is napping. I am SO glad we made this switch.
Teann, I love how you used the example of Queen Esther and the King! What a perfect picture of a godly, humble, meek and quiet wife in Esther yet she was resourceful and intelligent. Oh yeah, and beautiful too!
Dear Lori and Friends, after a typically busy day, my pastor’s wife had settled in and was looking forward to watching one of those home-improvement shows. One segment was ending, and after a flurry of commercials another began. She enjoys those programs, her husband built houses in his younger days. Her enjoyment of the program was stopped in it’s tracks, when the homeowners were introduced. Two guys, who both slept in the master bedroom…click!
Wonderful article! I am trying to build my eye for beauty, it takes a lot of retraining from what the world has taught me, even though I was very sheltered, outside influences snuck in through the cracks.