Porn

Luke 11:34 Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is full of light, but when it is bad, your body is full of darkness.

When I was in junior high, one of my classmates brought a certain magazine into the locker room for our perusal.  I had never seen such a thing and the fact that those images are still burned into my brain three decades later stands as testament to the impact of the event.  Men are highly visual and pornography is a drug to our testosterone soaked brains.

Fortunately, I did not have any further access when I was in junior high.  Fast forward 30 years though.  I shudder to think how easy it is for my children to access such material.  Sexual images are everywhere, available at the click of a button.

I do not know that Jesus was specifically referring to lust when He spoke these words, but the passage is certainly applicable to our time and epidemic of pornography.  The reality is, we have churches full of men living spiritually paralyzed due to an addiction to pornography.

The problem, as Jesus described it, is that we follow our eyes.  Just as I physically walk where I am looking, I spiritually gravitate towards that upon which my gaze is fixed.  I cannot look at the dark and the light at the same time.  If I am addicted to looking at the dark, my spiritual life will be darkened.  Though I may try to focus on God, if I am regularly turning from him, my spiritual development will be arrested.

Just looking is not that bad…. At least I am not out having an affair…  You are being a little ridiculous…  Jesus must have encountered such thinking.  He said, Everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart (Matthew 5:27).  Jesus was warning us of the inevitable spiritual consequences of a mind running wild.

I cannot consume garbage and expect to grow spiritually.  It is the same principle as physical or intellectual development.  If I eat sit on the couch and eat donuts all day, I cannot expect to be in in good shape.  If I play video games all day, I will learn video games.  Garbage in, garbage out.  I am that which I consume.

I am not addicted to pornography.  I recall insisting that I was not addicted to pills.  I knew I could not stop, but I was unwilling to accept that I was an addict.  I created a façade of excuses allowing me to continue in my behavior as it was too painful to change.  Refusal to accept the truth and refusal to change is, of course, always my choice.

So, what do I do if I find myself addicted to that which is causing me destruction in my marriage and spiritual life?  It is my responsibility to do whatever it takes to stop looking at the darkness and turn towards the light. For some, this will mean going to treatment.  For others, it will mean getting rid of a phone or computer (gasp).  Anyone who truly wants to change must make a radical commitment to turn from the darkness, towards the light.

The Seeds of the Spirit is a daily blog based on a walk through the New Testament.  Written from the perspective of my own addiction, it explores the common defects of our flesh nature and the solution, our spirit life.  If you find it helpful, sign up for the blog as a daily email, tell your friends and like/share it on Facebook.