Have you ever watched porn with your best friend? Ever sat down with some pop corn, on the couch with your laptop, plonked inbetween your Mom and Dad?
Thought not.
There are better ways of bonding with your parents. Ways that mean you can look them in the eye again.
No porn is a pastime usually done alone and like anything that we do on our own, eventually we can become isolated and alone. We can forget what it’s like to be around people and to be open and free. Here’s how.
Porn becomes a Goliath
The thing about Goliath was his size. He wasn’t a small dude. It was hard for David to see past him, above or around him. He blocked everything that lied past him. When all you see is Goliath and all you see is the countless times you have tried to knock him over, eventually you become blind to everything else around you.
But just like David, we need to remember there is more. Porn makes us believe the opposite. Our sin, our addiction is the biggest thing in my life. I am defined by it. I am controlled by it. This is the definition of selfishness. Seeing only myself. Not seeing God. Not seeing the power that He promises is ours.
Goliath may be big and ready to inflict a lot of mess.
God is bigger.
I’m the only one
Just like David and Goliath sometimes we stand there alone up at the front facing porn and wondering how we’re going to tackle it all on our own. Again porn has become the only thing in our sight.
But look behind you, like David may have done and you will see you are not alone. There are millions of people behind you who want to defeat the porn hold over their lives too. Some of them are probably right behind you and some of them may be people you didn’t expect to see there. But they are and they can help you. They can help you gain perspective on what is real and what is possible. When you look only at porn and not at the people that love you and are standing close with you are being selfish.
Look around. Maybe your best friend can hand you the stones.
Left out
David was the youngest of his brothers. There was a huge age gap and this meant that sometimes he was left behind. Now this wasn’t due to any sin on his part but when you are entrapped in porn addiction you can find it really tricky to be with other people. You can withdraw from friends, from your community and from God. You are ashamed and don’t want to face looking them all in the face. You can feel left behind.
But again this is not just pride or fear…it is selfishness. It is believing that you have nothing to offer and aren’t deserving of love. Selfishness can be looking inside so much at your sin and weaknesses that you forget that God’s love is based on nothing but who He is. That He knew you would mess up repeatedly but still loves you.
Why don’t you remember that you have an amazing life fulfilling place here on Earth and that other people deserve to be blessed by it? Why don’t you remember that you were created with love that is ready to set you free and live the life that God wants you to? For Him and everyone else.
Funny to think then that when David’s family and his country needed someone to defeat the enemy it was up to the guy who thought he was too small and weak.
Porn wants you to look at nothing but what you see on the screen. But just like what you see in porn is a lie, the thoughts that cause you to withdraw into your own world and miss out on everything are lies too.
Time to stop hiding away.
Time to look to God for your self worth.
Time to pick up the sling.