"When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not learn the detestable ways of the nations there." - Deuteronomy 18:9

Dear heavenly Father, I know why you told ancient Israel not to imitate the practices of the Canaanites. It is because we humans are so weak that we look around us to see how we ought to live. We have darkened discernment and so we copy the culture in which we find ourselves. I know you have put me in this world but you do not want me to be of this world. And I struggle with all of the materialism and self-centeredness of American culture. It is so easy to pursue worldly wealth as a sign of blessing, to guard my time for me and not serve others freely, to protect my entertainment instead of my neighbor’s welfare. Help me to get out of myself, to focus on serving you and others and to shake off American "spoil yourself" values. Help me to live a life of sacrifice and giving and sharing and spending for you and others. Help me to shun immorality, to switch the channel and turn my face away from inappropriate commercials and to not laugh at sin or the breakdown of the family modeled on the screen. I do not want my family or me to mimic the world because I love you and the purity you have freely given me too much to drag it back through mud. AMEN

To do your best to avoid sin is a wonderful way to tell God that you love him."