“Alright everyone, close your eyes really tight!”
Mrs. Poplin couldn’t help but smile at all of the little grunts
and grimaces as kids screwed their eyes closed. Kevin’s eyes were glinting out
between scrunched cheeks and a wrinkled forehead.
“Now, I want you to picture in your mind all of the animals
getting onto the ark with Noah. There are the horses! What sound do horses
make?”
The kids whinnied and flailed their hands, imitating horses
with the abandon only kids can muster.
“Oh, what are those, climbing in the trees?”
The kids loved this game. Guesses of, “Monkeys!” “Sloths!”
and even, “Tarantulas!” rang out.
“I’ll give you a hint if you promise to raise your hands. They’re
small. They have big bushy tails and they eat nuts. Yes, Joy? What’s your guess?”
Off to one side, the little girl piped up, “I think it’s a
squirrel, but I’m going to say… Jesus.”
Is, “Jesus,” really
the answer?
It’s raining outside. Dark and heavy. The clouds spray icy
drops of water at the upstairs windows of the church. Inside, several young men
are in close conversation around a small table. The room looks to normally be
used for children’s Sunday school, but on this dreary Wednesday, the small
chairs force the men into somewhat attentive, if uncomfortable, postures. Three
bibles lay at random, unopened, on the table.
One man, perhaps a handful of years older than the rest,
reads from a copy of the paper they all hold.
“All around you, the battle
rages. Demons lay to your left and right, gutted by the armies of the Most High.
You see men equipped in all of the armor of God, swords flashing when the
lightning strikes, raising their voices with the mighty trumpets and charging
fearlessly toward the battle lines.’
“Looking down, you see that you have no sword. You have no
armor. In fact, your pants are around your ankles. You are chasing after a
seductress’ call, in the middle of a warzone!’
“All around, the enemy is falling, the kingdom is coming to
earth, and you are chasing an orgasm!”
The group leader looks up, half-smiling and making eye
contact with the few boys who grin back.
“How many of you guys can identify with that picture? There
are totally times that I can.”
A chorus of quiet agreement.
“But let’s keep reading.” He says, looking back down, “John
1:2 says you are God’s child. There’s more to life than addiction. Romans 5: 1
says you’ve been justified. Romans 8:28 says God loves you no matter what. All
of these verses,” He pauses to count, “all thirty five of them, say that we
need to stop looking for the harlot on the battlefield. We need to open our
ears to the trumpets! We need to fix our eyes on the Commander leading the
charge! We need to pull up our pants, grab our armor and get in the fight! We
don’t need sex, we need Jesus!”
Is, “Jesus,” really
the answer?
Even we, the Lord’s
men, are rapidly and in increasing numbers falling to pornography. Our
addiction leads to late nights and lost hours that sap our desire to be with
anyone but our minds and our hands. As the hunger grows, even that fails to
satisfy and we turn to sexual experimentation. Soon, we hate who we have
become, a shell of the good man we seem to be, not enough substance within us
to cast a shadow. Left unchecked, our cravings will lead us to strip clubs and
whorehouses. Downward this addiction will spiral, its claws sunk tightly into
our chests until we have lost all notion of the way to the surface and, gasping
for air, we drown.
At some point along this path, before the end, we will
realize the trap has sprung. We turn to books, then pastors, then friends,
maybe even to family, but to no avail. The hooks are set deep. No program on
our computer, no insightful book, no accountability meeting, seems to help us
escape from the trap waiting just around the corner. We are evil men and our
desires are continuous.
Time and again, we are told that Jesus can help. “Give it to
Jesus and you will be free!” But is “Jesus” really the answer? If so, why is it
that so many who claim, “Jesus” are still bound and gagged to their god called
sex?
You cannot serve two masters.
Yet, I have found freedom.
Rather, freedom has found me. His name is, was, and will
forever be, Emmanuel, or “God with us.”
Before my first thoughts turned inward and prepared my heart
for these evil hooks, he overpowered them. The chains no longer drag me down.
If I waste away in front of the computer screen, eyes glazed, mouth slack,
heart pounding until judgment day with a flat-lined conscience, I will be
counted innocent of it all.
Christ died for sin,
once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring them to God. 1 Peter
3:18
However don’t be deceived, when I come to him prepared for a
mansion and golden streets, I will hear,
“Be gone from me, I
never knew you.” Matt 7:23
Wait. What?
Even before Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection he told
the paralytic,
“Take heart, your sins
are forgiven.” Matt 9
Why did Jesus come to earth? To die? To rise again? To
forgive sins?
Jesus came so that God could be with us. “Emmanuel.”
The answer is Emmanuel.
There is one source with the strength to reverse the
undertow of addiction, one escape from the perversion of our evil hearts. One
person is the way and the light shining in the darkness.
He knows you. Do you know him?
What is his favorite color?
What does he like to do with his free time?
Why does he let sin run rampant?
Sheeple, what does his voice sound like?
Get to know him, let his love grow through you, he will lead
you to freedom.
Without vision, all people perish.
Before you can hope to transform, you need to look to what
you will become.
Now we see as through a mirror, dimly, but then we shall see
him face to face. We shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.
