Exercising an Unstained Mind: A Yuletide Consideration

A couple of weeks back, an entry in Mission Possible: One-Year Devotional by Tim Tebow emphasized the need to exercise one’s mind…and to do so in a purposeful, careful way that keeps one from being influenced by the ungodly doctrines, temptations, and vanities of the world. What a critically-needed challenge this is for Christians. After all, such biblical admonitions as we read in James 1:27 (“keep oneself unstained by the world”) and Philippians 4:8 (dwell on “whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute”) are to be closely, consistently obeyed.

Tebow’s entry recently brought to mind two illustrations of just how rare the “exercising of the mind” is nowadays.

1) A December tradition of longstanding is my re-reading old Christmas novels and story collections. Some of them are in actual books from my library but an awful lot of the stories are in a massive Kindle collection I purchased years ago for a single dollar -- The Ultimate Christmas Collection. Charles Dickens. Louisa May Alcott. Booth Tarkington. O Henry. Henry van Dyke. Washington Irving. Harriet Beecher Stowe. Bess Streeter Aldrich. Selma Lagerlof. Frank Stockton. Fyodor Dostoyevsky. Lucy Maud Montgomery. Anthony Trollope. Kate Douglas Wiggin. And many, many more. Plus the collection includes a lot of old (and magnificent) Christmas poetry too. William Blake. Thomas Hardy. Christina Rossetti. Charles Wesley. Alfred Lord Tennyson. Robert Herrick. Ben Johnson. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. George MacDonald. And on and on. 

Here’s the point. The superior quality of that literature in artistic excellence, wholesomeness, and spiritual intentions compared to the schlock of a television movie from the Hallmark Channel or one of the modern “Christmas mysteries” set in a bookstore or a bakery is absolutely stunning. So why then do Christians (remember, Christians whose minds are supposed to be set on things pure, lovely, and of good repute) so easily, so lazily, so indiscriminately settle for poorer choices? Why do we ignore the immense amount of art and literature that is genuinely good, uplifting, and spiritually valuable while allowing the world to spoon-feed us its paltry (when not actually perverse) alternatives?

2) The beauty and comfort of our Christmas edition of “When Swing Was King” is tremendously appreciated by our audiences in all 12 of the senior citizen facilities where we present it. The residents tell us how wonderful the songs are, how encouraging are the opportunities to remember the lyrics and then sing along, how heartwarming are the Christmas photographs and artwork that is in the program. We, of course, are delighted that they so deeply appreciate the quality, wholesomeness, and personalized touch that marks the show. 

And yet what happens immediately after they’ve enjoyed this charming and meaningful 45-minutes of an old-time Christmas? Sad to say, as we pack up our gear and prepare to leave, we see the residents wheeled away and parked in front of a loud, big-screen television broadcasting an inane, slapstick, suggestive game show or maybe one of the lurid soap operas. And that’s not all. With our program over, the music programming is turned back on and over the intercom we hear “Santa Baby” by Madonna, “Wonderful Christmastime” by Paul McCartney & Wings, or “Last Christmas” by WHAM! And, if we are disheartened and offended by such lousy sounds, you can imagine how these dear folks are reacting as the screeching of Cyndy Lauper and Boyz in the Hood replace the calm joy they had just enjoyed with Crosby, Sinatra, and the Lennon Sisters.

Exercising our mind? It’s a crucial responsibility. And leaning upon what the world serves up isn’t going to do the trick. So, take the effort to go find yourself some more wholesome Christmas literature and music…and art and movies…and conversations and hobbies…and service projects in which you share the beauty and bounty of this happy, holy season to others.