why you should guard your heart

Why you should guard your heart

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      I like a good action movie. Give me a Mission Impossible or James Bond marathon and I am set. Avenger/ Marvel series? Check, watched every last one of them. I think that may even be one of the reasons why my hubby married me! I am not a chick flick watching type of gal.
      However, every now and then I do want to immerse myself in a girly romantic or rom-com movie. Heck around Christmas time I sometimes turn to the Hallmark channel and watch some of their highly predictable movies! (Side note: Hallmark why are there so few movies with African – American women lead characters on your channel?) When I do that my husband leaves the room very quickly.
      Don’t get me wrong, I like romance. I love getting gifts, flowers and hearing sweet nothings from my husband, especially when it’s a surprise.  But I don’t like watching or reading romance books that are filled with predictable sex scenes. I start to feel a little uncomfortable.
      I admit I used to read some romance books. After reading a few of them I realized there was a pattern to that type of book and they weren’t too interesting to me. And reading those sex filled types of books aren’t too pleasing to God. I only want to be aroused by my husband, not a book or movie (Sorry, TMI, but truth).
      Watching or reading sex filled movies, tv shows or books causes arousal and raises dopamine levels in the brain. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that is associated with the brains pleasure center. I like to say Dopamine makes you feel dope. It rewards you with that good feeling when eating chocolate, doing something good or exciting. Dopamine has no morals, its doing its job. It can’t tell if what you are doing is right or wrong. The good feeling from dopamine can make you want to keep on doing that pleasurable or exciting thing more and more. Sometimes leading into wrong choices, bad consequences or even addicted to sex filled movies and/or books. (More of this in my book)
      As Christian women we should be honoring God with what we watch and read. Some of these movies and books treat sex, dating and one night stands as commonplace and blasé’. Just a natural thing and no one gets hurt! Wrong, in my six years of working at a Pregnancy Resource ministry, I met countless women who were affected physically and mentally by casual sex and one night stands. No one was there for them after things fell apart, so they come to the ministry to get the help, healing and love they need, without judgment. (I write more about this in my soon to be published book).
      As mentioned before, sex filled books and movies can raise those feelings of the flesh that can be hard to tame. Guard your heart! It’s better to not watch and be safe.

“Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.” Colossians 3:5 (NIV)

“It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; that each of you should learn to control your own body[a] in a way that is holy and honorable, not in passionate lust like the pagans, who do not know God;” 1 Thessalonians 4:3-5 (NIV)

“For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life.” 1 Thessalonians 4:7 (NIV)
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      Let us not make Jesus' sacrifice be in vain. He loved us so much that He died for us. Do you love Him so much that you want to do what is pleasing to Him? Live by the Spirit. Be pleasing and honoring to God in what you read and watch. When we do what is pleasing to God, our lives are immensely better.
      I don’t want to leave you without listing some of my favorite romance movies. These movies are some of the most romantic movies out there with no sex scenes!

1. Leap Year (2010) rom -com with Amy Adams and Matthew Goode
2. Pride and Prejudice (2005) with Kiera Knightly and Matthew McFadyen
3. Bronx Tale (1993) with Lilo Brancato and Taral Hicks
4. My Last Day Without You (2011) with Nicole Behare and Ken Duken
5. How to Marry a Millionaire (1953) rom - com with Betty Grable, Marilyn Monroe and Lauren Bacall

What are some of your favorite romance movies? I would love some more suggestions.
 
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Love ya!

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