Want True Love? What You Listen to Matters

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Jesus said that we are supposed to be in the world but not of it. Think about how these words apply to dating and marriage.

Do not love the world or the things of the world. For all that is in the world, sensual lust, enticement for the eyes, and a pretentious life, is not from the Father but is from the world. 1 John 2:15-17.

Marriage is about true love and commitment. Do you want to give your whole self—your heart, your mind, and your body to a spouse someday? Do you want it to last and to even help you go to heaven? Then beware of false love while you are dating.

The world is obsessed with false love. It is everywhere in our entertainment.

You can't go to a supermarket where you don't hear songs or see images glorifying sin. (I'm not going to give examples here because, unless you live in a cave in the Middle East, you already know what I'm talking about.) The world gets you started on soft porn when you are a little kid eye level with the magazine racks in the check out lane.

When my kids were little, I never used the candy free lane which the store set up to please the mothers who didn't want their kids to want sugar. I chose the candy lanes on purpose. "Look at the M & M's kids, while I flip these nasty magazines around."

Sometimes you can't help being around it but sometimes you can.

Take this fitness class I used to go to.

What a great workout. And so much fun! But... now and then the instructor would choose a song with dirty lyrics. The first few times I would hear it, I would not notice the words (a sure sign of aging). Then one day they would all become clear.

Whoa. Where can I get a brain bath?

But by then, the song was stuck in my head. Even though I never wanted to hear it again, the music was on my mental playlist and now the words were too. You know how you hate to get a song—even a song you like—stuck in your head? Imagine one you hate getting stuck in there. It's like having a bum invade your house, crash on your couch and put his dirty feet on the pillows.

I tried to fight back by playing a different song in my head, usually a beautiful piece of polyphony which I learned in my church choir. It helped but it was not enough. I started asking myself: Should I quit this class, a class I really need because it is the only thing standing between me and assisted living? Do I let my body live and let my brain rot? Can I handle it?

Guess what, I stayed in the class.

Then one day there was a new song that was not dirty; it was occult. Scary devil-beast Book of Revelation stuff.

I left the room until the song was over. When I got home that night, I asked my friend and fitness partner to pray for me because I needed to get in touch with the teacher. I sent her a link to the Grammy performance of the song and pointed out the in-your-face Satanic imagery. To her credit, she got rid of the song. What a relief! Slutty stuff was one thing but I drew the line at the demonic.

Does anyone see the problem with my thinking?

I was putting the songs in categories, categories of evil. Some songs were bad, others were worse, others were worst. Compared to the songs that were worse or worst, the bad ones seemed kind of okay.

This is what Our Lord meant when He said Do not be of the world. Do not get used to it. You might start by tolerating it, then you might excuse it, then you might commit it.

In the end, I had to sacrifice that fitness class. It just didn't make sense to sing music from heaven Sunday and dance to music from hell on Tuesday.

Likewise, if you are hoping to find true love in dating and marriage, it does not make sense to allow false love to influence your heart. As Our Lord said, and as I found out with my exercise class, you can't have it both ways. The false love that the world offers is a threat to the true love you want.

What can you do about all the immoral entertainment around you?

Get rid of it wherever possible. Don't listen to it in your car or watch it on television. Avoid the sort of bars where it is in your face. If it is somewhere you can't easily avoid it, like at work, think about how you can remove yourself from it or get the boss to change it. Think of ways you can fight it, starting with prayer.

God said to be in the world but not of it. He wants to prepare you for a true love and a lasting marriage—one that is out of this world!

Find Your Forever.

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