The problem with soap operas.
If you’re not careful, your life can become like one.
Soap operas are filled with drama. In these stories, characters often have to navigate life’s challenges alone, without involving God in their decisions. There is a lack of boundaries, emotions are unchecked, and feeling whatever you want seems acceptable. Ultimately, individuals believe they are responsible for figuring life out themselves. Intimacy is not highly valued; instead, personal freedom in love and self-expression is emphasized. The prevailing message is that you only live once.
This philosophy is flawed and dangerous to your health and well-being.
Watching soap operas does not mean you are not saved or born again. I watched them myself when I was younger and found that both men and women are drawn to these shows. Eventually, the Holy Spirit reached me and made me truly pay attention. What I saw with a fresh perspective was unsettling: constant drama, characters rarely finding lasting happiness, their joy always brief before more problems arose. The shows revolve around endless romantic relationships among the same group of people, like a merry-go-round. This reflects how things often are in the world.
Romans 12:1-2, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God”. Typically, people prefer a steady and stable life over constant ups and downs. If surveyed, I believe most individuals would choose security, reliable foundations, and positive relationships built on lasting commitments.
After I stopped watching these kinds of shows, I’ve been steadily learning to view things through the perspective of my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. What stands out to me is His reliability, faithfulness, trustworthiness, and so much more. “God is the same, yesterday, today, and forever. (Hebrews 13:8). You can be confident in what to expect from Him.
The trouble with feeding on soap operas—and any storyline that glorifies chaos—is this: it trains you to see yourself as limited, double-minded, and uncertain about tomorrow. That mindset does not come from God. Choose instead to see yourself the way He sees you. You are someone He deemed worth the sacrifice of His own Son. Jesus did not go to the cross guessing or wavering—He chose you deliberately, because He saw the joy set before Him. Your future was never an accident in God’s plan. He saw what you could become in Him! Hebrews 12:2, “looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
Who wants extra drama? I certainly don’t, and I doubt you do either. Life already comes with enough challenges and difficulties. Let go of uncertainty and seek guidance from the Lord to live a life with Him. As Jeremiah 29:13 says, “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”
Marguerite Wafula