The dipstick measures the level and condition of the oil in an automobile engine. How do we measure the heart of a society? In Matthew 12 Jesus said the heart of a man is measured by what comes out of his mouth.
“You brood of vipers, how can you who are
evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. The
good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man
brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. But I tell you that men
will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they
have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your
words you will be condemned.” [1]
I suspect if we were to apply this
teaching on a broader level than an individual we might say you can measure the
heart of a society by its art, especially the print and electronic media in our
modern world. How is it? It is not all bad. There are certainly some redeeming
elements in every form of media today. But I suspect realization of this fact,
if it is indeed the way to measure our society, would make most people shudder.
What then can we do about this problem? Of course it will not be solved without God’s mighty hand changing the heart and hearts in our society. It will not happen simply by human effort. Even if we were able to drive out the demons we would find them bringing back worse demons to torment us.
Certainly a beginning place for changing the heart of our society is by praying for those involved with the arts, especially the communication and entertainment media. I would like to see an army praying for these things.
On top of that I would like to see people committed to pray for individual writers and artists who might by the power of God affect society positively. Are you praying for writers and actors and other artists who profess to be believers? You could begin making a list of names to pray for. You could start with actors you recognize, writers of favorite books or simply bloggers who affect a couple of dozen people each week. Who knows what God might do through your prayers?
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