Doing what is right in the Lord's sight

“Do what is right and good in the Lord’s sight, so that it may go well with you and you may go in and take over the good land that the Lord promised on oath to your forefathers, thrusting out all your enemies before you, as the Lord said.” Deuteronomy 6:18-19
Regular readers of this blog will note that normally the verses I write on are in a sort of sequential order: they are basically chosen based on my daily Bible reading (through the OT, Psalms, and NT concurrently). In the OT we’re currently at Joshua. But today’s verse comes from Deuteronomy – because it’s something that I was personally convicted about, and so I thought I’d share it.
We know that the Promised Land speaks to us of the abundant Christian life, being led by the Holy Spirit. Yes, we still have battles, but we have also been promised the victory if we keep in step with God. But sometimes we don’t feel like our life is that abundant. We feel like the enemy is winning sometimes.
Today’s verse tells us that if we do what is right and good in the Lord’s sight, it will go well for us, we will be able to take possession of the land, and God will defeat all our enemies. We know what is right and good in the Lord’s sight, and what is not – the Bible tells us, and our conscience confirms it.
What I was especially convicted about this week was certain TV programmes that I have been watching. They’re ones that are advertised as ‘containing language/violence/content that may offend some people’. One centres around solving all kinds of gruesome crimes; the other involves a family of people who can only be classed as sexually immoral, with that immorality being the focus of the show. How are these things benefitting me as a Christian? Quite simply, they are not.
I’m not saying that everything on TV is bad. Some programmes can be uplifting, others are educational. But we need to “test everything, hold on to the good” (1 Thess. 5:21). Paul used this yardstick in considering the virtues of secular things: “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things” (Phil. 4:8).
In all this, I still have a choice. I can choose to ignore the conviction of the Holy Spirit, and keep watching – and keep living in defeat in this area of my life. Or I can switch the box off, and do something else that is more edifying. I want to be more productive for God. This is one thing that I know I have to be obedient in, if I want that to happen.