FEAST!

I got a threatening letter last week.

“Please respond to this letter by 21st March to avoid your details being passed on to our Enforcement Division for investigation” it said. They wanted to extract £130 (about $200+) out of me. “They” meaning The TV Licensing Board of the United Kingdom.

What in the world did they want with me, I wondered.

Oh, and “in accordance with Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984” I could be risking a £1,000 (about $1600+) fine if my transgression and felonious malfeasance continued unabated!

Some kind of joke? It looked authentic. There was a phone number. I called.

The scoop: The only TV channels one gets in the U.K., if one doesn’t have cable or other such devices, are BBC 1, BBC 2, BBC 3 … (about four or five such, I am told). The thing about BBC—it is commercial free. So everyone pays a licensing fee. Hence the screw being tightened on yours faithfully in an attempt to extort some pounds sterling out of this starving student (subsisting entirely on imported JIF!).

I confess there is a TV on the premises—I live in a furnished flat, which comes with everything (linens, cookware, and … a TV). But beyond turning it on to see if it worked when I moved in 6 months ago, I have not watched TV at all; neither do I intend to in the future.

The folks I talked to accepted my excuse; however, they are going to send an “inspector” to visit me! (I’ll let you all know if I need to be bailed out of jail or something!)

I have nothing against TVs. I never used to watch it in the U.S. either. Many years ago—a totally personal resolution—I decided to exercise some serious caution on what went in through the eye-gates of my soul. One of those vigilante measures included passing up on TV. (Of course, not having time to sit before the box helped as well.)

This is not to say there aren’t other ways I could get into trouble with my eyes. I do have internet. But the presence of a “history folder” that maintains a log of every site I visit keeps me accountable.

It’s an ongoing battle. And it’s something we all struggle with, I’m sure: What enters our souls? What are we to keep thinking about? What must we be feasting our minds upon?

Good things. Godly things.

Finally, brethren, whatever is true,
whatever is honorable, whatever is right,
whatever is pure, whatever is lovely,
whatever is of good repute,
if there is any excellence
and if anything worthy of praise,
dwell on these things.
Philippians 4:8

God’s truth is everywhere, certainly, even in secular material (and on TV, I’m sure). All truth is God’s truth. He owns truth. He has a monopoly on it. He is Truth!

But the example nonpareil of truth is the Scriptures. Unadulterated. Unfailing. Unparallelled. Trustworthy. Tried. Tested. TRUTH!

How blessed is the one
who does not walk
in the counsel of the wicked,
Nor stand in the path of sinners,
Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!
But his delight
is in the law of the LORD,
And in His law
he meditates day and night.
Psalm 1:1–2

Let’s keep on reading it. Dwelling upon it. Meditating in it. Treasuring it.

Your word I have treasured
in my heart,
That I may not sin
against You.
Psalm 119:11

In these Lenten days, let’s go for a feast, shall we? Of Scripture. Undertake to dig in. Do a bit more than usual. If it’s not a habit, make it one.

Engorge! It's sweeter than honey (Psalm 19:10) ... and its fat free!