Andy Griffith’s passing this month at age 86 is cause for mourning among some five generations of fans. From Griffith’s surviving contemporaries to the newest young viewers of “The Andy Griffith Show” on Netflix, audiences young and old continue to discover reasons to smile thanks to Griffith’s warm sense of humor.
And those reasons and smiles are never embarrassed or nervous.
Griffith lent his name to a show that highlighted honesty, neighborly love, family, small-town loyalty … the list goes on, and most viewers would reposition some personal value nearer the front.
Sadly, that’s not something you can say about most of today’s entertainment. And when it comes to shows built around a personality, I can’t think of any that adhere as staunchly to a moral compass as “The Andy Griffith Show.”
Here’s a little mental game you can play. Imagine a television show named after you. What would it communicate to viewers? What values would it cultivate in their thoughts and words and actions?
Here’s a little dose of reality. Whether or not your name ever makes it to a marquee, your life is communicating far more than you realize to viewers young and old. With God’s help, you make the message positive and life-changing.
The apostle Paul, writing to early Christians, reminded them that their lives were “a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts” (2 Corinthians 3:3, NIV).
Paul was describing two realities. On the one hand, the Christians’ transformed lives were an endorsement of his own life and ministry. As well, those believers were continuing to influence others for the gospel.
We need more “Andy Griffiths” in our morally drifting culture today who not only promote Mayberry values, but the eternal truths that undergird such values. Perhaps you could be one.
— Scott Harrup is managing editor of the Pentecostal Evangel and blogs at Out There (sharrup.agblogger.org).
And those reasons and smiles are never embarrassed or nervous.
Griffith lent his name to a show that highlighted honesty, neighborly love, family, small-town loyalty … the list goes on, and most viewers would reposition some personal value nearer the front.
Sadly, that’s not something you can say about most of today’s entertainment. And when it comes to shows built around a personality, I can’t think of any that adhere as staunchly to a moral compass as “The Andy Griffith Show.”
Here’s a little mental game you can play. Imagine a television show named after you. What would it communicate to viewers? What values would it cultivate in their thoughts and words and actions?
Here’s a little dose of reality. Whether or not your name ever makes it to a marquee, your life is communicating far more than you realize to viewers young and old. With God’s help, you make the message positive and life-changing.
The apostle Paul, writing to early Christians, reminded them that their lives were “a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts” (2 Corinthians 3:3, NIV).
Paul was describing two realities. On the one hand, the Christians’ transformed lives were an endorsement of his own life and ministry. As well, those believers were continuing to influence others for the gospel.
We need more “Andy Griffiths” in our morally drifting culture today who not only promote Mayberry values, but the eternal truths that undergird such values. Perhaps you could be one.
— Scott Harrup is managing editor of the Pentecostal Evangel and blogs at Out There (sharrup.agblogger.org).
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