When my children were toddlers, two of them slept on bunk beds. The top bunk had a ladder to climb into the bed and a guardrail to keep the child from falling out of the bed. It reminds me of the “ladder” and “guardrail” Christ Jesus gave us to keep our thought rising spiritually upward and safe from falling into sin, disease, and death. He said, “And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch” (Mark 13:37).

Jesus was advising us to watch our thinking—to accept, love, and live in accord with what is true of God as infinite Spirit, Truth, and Love, and of ourself and others in our real and immortal identity as God’s spiritual, perfect image and likeness. He knew that rising mentally in this reality, and holding to it steadfastly, would be the ladder and guardrail to keep us spiritually uplifted and safe from falling into believing in the supposed reality of sin, disease, and death. 

We can’t afford to be passive thinkers, just letting everything that seeks our attention simply wash over us without being challenged. Spiritual alertness enables us to reject suggestions of discord and disease as untrue, because not of God, and to replace them with what is spiritually true, as the way to live pure and healthy lives, including when watching TV or streaming audio or video on other devices. We need to live as active Christian healers all the time. And this should guide how we respond to all that we watch and listen to, whether it’s entertainment programming, local and world news, or even just the ads.