Time Thief

For the sons of Athaliah, that wicked woman, had broken into the house of God, and had also used all the dedicated things of the house of the LORD for the Baals. 2 Chronicles 24:7

I read a while back that approximately 75% of Christian men struggle with pornography on a regular basis. Having worked in and around addiction for a few years now, that number doesn’t surprise me, and I’ve got to wonder if that estimate is actually a little low. I’m convinced that the advent of the smart phone has wrought a generation of church-going men who are spiritually paralyzed by a pornography addiction.

Here’s what I mean. In my own addiction – drugs – my spiritual life is the first casualty. While I’m using drugs, I can’t look at God, I can’t pray, and I can’t grow spiritually. When I’m using drugs, I’m spiritually paralyzed. I’ve lost years of my life to the drug, not living as God intends, because I’m preoccupied with pursuing my own self-destructive appetite. Pornography, I think, does the same thing. I’m not saying that any man who has looked at porn in the last year can’t have done anything for God. I am, however, insisting that regular viewing of porn prevents a man from being who God intends for him to be. I am saying that, as men, we are sacrificing years of our lives on the altar of pornography.

Sin steals from God that which is meant to be used for his purpose. That is the lesson of today’s passage, which tells of how the evil Queen Athaliah plundered God’s temple, taking its treasures to be used for the worship of Baal. King Joash discovered this after he deposed Athaliah, and in response, he destroyed the temples of Baal, taking back the treasures, redeeming them for use in the house of God.

Redeem the time, because the days are evil (Ephesians 5:16 KJV). This is now my job. If I’ve lost time and energy in the pursuit of sin, it’s now my job to reorient my life, pointing myself at God and his will. Just as I spent a tremendous amount of time and energy pursuing the drug, I now must spend that same amount of time and energy pursuing faith and recovery. Just as my addiction once stole my life, I must now steal it back, using it for God, pursuing his will for me and my life. Sin is a thief. In faith and recovery, if I desire the life that God intends, I must purposefully and forcefully take back what it’s stolen from me.