I live an in apartment building on the second floor. One day, after a long day at work, I came home to a strong odor of cigarette smoke in my home. I immediately thought that someone had been in my apartment smoking. I don’t smoke, so I assumed maybe a maintenance man may have done it. But when the situation continued, I realized what was happening. I have a few neighbors who smoke, including one of the tenants below me. When the weather turned cold, he took his smoking inside and the smoke entered my apartment through the ventilation system.
A few days later, after a particularly smoky night in which I had to leave my apartment, I spoke with my neighbor about it and he was very apologetic and happy to work with me. I explained to him how the smoke stayed in my apartment for hours. He replied, “I can’t believe it was so strong…I only smoked two cigarettes…” I too was surprised to find that only two cigarettes, from a neighbor’s apartment was enough to make my whole apartment toxic. Since then, he’s been great about the whole thing and keeps most of his smoking outdoors.
A few weeks later, while getting ready for work, the Holy Spirit suddenly spoke to me, “That cigarette situation was a spiritual lesson.”
“Really? How so?” I asked. Then, this verse suddenly came to me; “Just a little bit of leaven leavens the whole lump of dough.” (Gal 5:9.) I immediately understood. Just as it only takes a pinch of yeast to affect a whole lump of dough, it only took a little bit of smoke to poison my entire apartment. Spiritually speaking, it only takes a little of something impure to poison our whole soul. A little bitterness, a little rebellion, a little toxicity, a little pornography. It doesn’t matter what it is, just a little will affect our whole person. If you doubt this, let me ask you a question; If I handed you a piece of cake and told you it only had a “little bit” of bird droppings in it, would you still eat it? How bout if I handed you a glass of milk and told you it had just “little bit” of turpentine in it?
So, when it comes to taking in a movie, is a “little bit” (or in this case, a lot) of sexuality and dark, promiscuity okay to take into my soul? Will it affect just a little, quarantined part of my mind? Or will it poison my whole soul? I can answer that question every time I’m in my apartment and a “little bit” of smoke from downstairs seeps in my home. There is no place the smoke doesn’t go, no corner that it misses. My whole apartment is affected. My air is affected, my nose is affected, and my peace is affected. Yes, just a little movie like Fifty Shades of Grey will hurt me. Even just one of the sex scenes will hurt me…a lot. And the lingering effects are that once we see something, we can never un-see it. It leaves a lasting imprint on our brain.
No, I won’t be going to watch Fifty Shades of Grey. There are plenty of other great movies that I’m looking forward to seeing. Yes, sometimes a movie can surprise you with a sudden sex scene you didn’t expect, but knowingly going to a movie that is impure is a little different. I might as well sit down at my dinner table and have that piece of cake and glass of milk.
