Every Man’s Fight (Pt. 2/4)
Dismantling Lies
When you start following Jesus, it’s important you learn how to fight. Your purity fight will be spiritual, physical and mental. Today we’ll focus on the war of the mind.
Our enemy is a master of deception and the fight for purity is clouded in lies. Your success in large part will be determined by your ability to recognize and rebuke lies. We’ll cover three of the most pervasive lies here.
Lie #1 The Breaker of Men
“You’re the only one.”
It’s the most common lie and the easiest to believe. The reason is simple. You're not just being deceived by Satan, but also by many of the men in your life.
Remember the anonymous nation-wide survey in my last post?
86% of Christian college age men watch porn occasionally.
The only thing more startling than that statistic is how little it’s talked about in Christian circles. In perhaps one of Satan’s most devastating strategic moves, he’s wrapped this particular sin in so much shame that most men hide and lie. Countless men would experience victory in this battle, if another guy would reach out and teach them how to fight. The problem is; to be a teacher, you must first bear the Scarlett Letter and advertise your own sin publicly. But instead, we’ve got a bunch of Adam’s hiding naked behind leaves, more worried about covering up their sin and shame than helping their brothers who are struggling beside them. Like a war that’s waged without ever hearing a shot fired, I’m afraid millions of men are silent casualties.
Men, let this be the day you step out and bring this to the light. Tell someone you can trust and ask them how they’re doing with it as well. I’ve seen God do incredible things in my life and the lives of other men through courageous acts like this.
Fellas, if you’re already walking in purity and are waiting on the sidelines, let this serve as your sign to reach out to your friends and brothers. You don’t need to be a pastor to have these conversations. This is how we wage war on darkness. We need more men willing to confront it.
Lie #2 Fatigue
“Purity only gets harder the longer you go.”
We’ve concocted this lie from our understanding of exercise science. Hear me out. Anybody who’s ever exercised knows the feeling of fatigue. If you do one max effort set of pullups till failure, chances are you won’t be able to beat your reps if you did another set. Why? In layman’s terms, your muscles are tired, they’re swelling to bring blood cells and oxygen to the affected area, not to mention lactic acid buildup which all contributes to the feeling that we call “fatigue”.
We assume our brain and our will power operate by the same laws of fatigue, but that’s not how the brain works.
Satan would love for you to believe that your will power is being whittled away with each passing day. The lie sounds something like this, “You barely made it through today without watching porn and it took all your strength.” “You’re exhausted; there’s no way you’ll be able to hang on through tomorrow.” “Just give in now because tomorrow will be way tougher.”
But that’s not true – scientifically or spiritually.
Multiple studies have shown that abstinence from pornography results in neuroplasticity, neurotransmitter balance and neurogenesis. Meaning, each passing moment you starve your brain of that filth, you’re giving your brain a chance to heal itself and become more resilient. Kinda sounds like what Paul talks about in Romans, “renewing of your mind”.
Not to mention, there’s something to be said for the spiritual discipline of self control. The apostle Peter esteemed the virtue of self-control alongside qualities like godliness and love.
For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
2 Peter 1:5-9
It’s no accident that Peter lists these qualities as things we can ‘practice’. The very notion of a skill that’s practicable implies it’s something we can get better at over time. Self-control decisions get easier over time. Diets seem to be most difficult in the first few days - but after a week, they become routine. Let’s exercise our self-control muscles and make purity a routine.
Lie #3 The Almost Lost Fallacy
Don’t fall into the trap of viewing your purity battle as a lose / almost-lose situation. Satan will do everything in his power to destroy you and if he can’t get you to sin, his next strategy is to strip you of your joy.
I can remember a conversation with a young man we’ll call Ben who was newly walking in purity.
“Well, I was home alone and hit hard with temptation. I wrestled with it for a while but ultimately ended up pulling out my phone. I was opening up Safari when a friend called and snapped me out of it. I set my phone down and took a walk instead.
I’m listening to Ben share this and I’m ecstatic, but I can tell the feeling is not mutual. Ben looks at me and says, “Yeah, but I almost lost. I mean, I wanted to look at that stuff.”
Let me be clear. There’s no almost losses, almost wins or ties in this arena. There’s either victory or defeat. And if you weren’t defeated - then you’re victorious. And that’s cause for celebration!
If you played on a sports team and your only chances were losing or almost losing… how motivating is that? And yet, that’s how we view our fight for purity when in reality, there’s a very real victory to celebrate.
Let this be a reminder to you that God is a Father, and I can tell you from personal experience that when my child is victorious in something – I’m bouncing off the walls with excitement for them! If I love my kids that much – and I’m wicked – how much more is the Father joyful with you when you resist the devil? Don’t neglect this moment to celebrate your victory by praising your Father in Heaven and thanking Him for what He’s doing in your heart and mind.
3 Truths to cling to:
1. You’re not the only one.
2. The longer you walk in purity, the easier it will become.
3. God is celebrating your victories over sin. Celebrate with Him!
Stay tuned for Part 3 coming soon.
Keep fighting.
If you missed it, check out Part 1 of this series by clicking below!
Note from the author:
Stick around for the rest of the series as we tackle this multi-headed monster. Send me an email @ hntrmorgan2@gmail.com and I’ll personally respond to any questions you have.
