The Story
Not long ago I sat down after a long day, picked up my phone “just for a minute,” and looked up an hour later. I hadn’t learned anything useful. What I had picked up was a sour mood, a few new worries, and a strong opinion about something that didn’t even touch my life that morning. Then I turned on the TV, and the same message was waiting there, only louder.
It hit me that I never chose any of it. Somebody else did. A producer picked the story. An algorithm picked the next video. An advertiser paid to be there. I was just the one holding the screen.
I’ve come to think of the word television this way: Tell Someone my Vision. That isn’t where the word actually comes from, but it’s a fair description of what it does. Every screen in your house is somebody telling you their vision. Their vision of the world, of what you should want, of who you should fear, and of who you should be angry at. For most of my adult life I never stopped to ask whose vision it was. I just let it in.
The Scripture
“The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!”
Matthew 6:22-23 (NIV)
How I Understand This Scripture
The way I understand it, Jesus is saying that what we look at doesn’t stay on the surface. The eyes are a doorway. Whatever comes through them spreads into the rest of us, our thoughts, our moods, and our choices. If what comes in is healthy, it brings light. If it’s full of fear, greed, lust, and outrage, it brings darkness. The frightening part is that we can get used to that darkness and start calling it normal. Jesus warns that when the light inside us has gone dim, we may not even realize how dark it has gotten.
My Reflection
Propaganda doesn’t usually show up wearing a uniform. It shows up as a headline written to make you angry. It shows up as a show that makes sin look normal and faith look foolish. It shows up as a commercial telling you that you aren’t enough until you buy something. It shows up as a feed that learns what upsets you and hands you more of it. None of it has to be an outright lie to shape you. It only has to be repeated often enough.
I’m not telling you to throw your TV in the yard. I’m asking you to start asking better questions. Who made this? What do they want me to feel? What do they want me to do? Does any of it look like the vision God has for my life?
Here’s what I’m working on. I try to give God the first look of the day before I give it to a screen. I pay attention to how I feel after I watch something, because that tells me what it was feeding. And when something stirs up fear or anger in me, I stop and ask whose vision that is, because most of the time it isn’t His.
Paul said it plainly: “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:2, NIV). The world will gladly tell you its vision all day long. You get to decide how much of it you let in.
A Prayer
Lord, thank You for the gift of sight and for the light of Your Word. Forgive me for the hours I’ve handed over to voices that don’t love me or You. Guard my eyes and guard my mind. Help me notice when someone is selling me their vision, and give me the wisdom and the strength to turn it off. Fill me with Your light so there is no room left for darkness. Let Your vision for my life be the one I see most clearly. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
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