What You Watch Matters

The Chosen is a new television series that was released in 2019 by an independent filmmaker named Dallas Jenkins. The show is based on the life of Jesus and shows the progress of his followers and their lives as well. It shows us, Jesus, through the eyes of those who met him. This concept has been very interesting to watch especially if you are someone like me who has grown up in church and heard all the stories in Sunday school before. To now have it come to life and be able to visually see it has created a new sense of appreciation and has even made me think of some things differently.

I first started watching the series when we were put into quarantine for the first time in the spring of 2020. I had grown sad to be inside for so long and I missed my friends. I found myself getting into the habit of mindlessly scrolling through social media on my phone for hours at a time. This was definitely not beneficial for me. I had binged watched a few shows on Netflix and Hulu but all those shows really not anything I should be filling my mind with.

Some time passes and I'm still stuck in this never-ending cycle of social media and numbing my brain watching pointless dramas. This is when a friend recommends a new show called The Chosen to me. I realize this is a much better show to binge-watch. I start watching it that night and am instantly hooked. It starts at the beginning of Jesus gathering his disciples and goes on to show more into their own stories. Before I knew it I had watched all nine episodes in the first season. After I got done I was longing for more and was looking up when the next season was going to come out. Sadly it wasn’t going to be released for a while but at least it gave me something to look forward to.

Watching a show like The Chosen reminded me just how important it is to be mindful of the things you watch. I had taken all this empty time and instead of using it in a productive way, I was just throwing it away. Watching this show definitely did not replace my own quitting time with the Lord and reading his word but it reminded me just how much more important those things are.