Golf, Porn & Jesus (not necessarily in that order…)

Señor Jefe June 29th, 2007

I'm not much for porn. I've found that as I get older, if I stumble across a racy picture on the web, or channel-chase past an explicit scene on Skin-emax, my response is less of "She's got a nice body" and more of "That girl with the nice body… is a real person, and a child of God". And I genuinely feel compassion for her (as I continue chasing channels or web surfing… ahem!

There was a day when I would have probably stopped & looked… probably not so much for the purpose of intercession as enjoyment. And when the scene would pass, I'd find myself desiring more.

I've recently had a similar reaction to golf. I hate golf. It's expensive. It takes entirely too long. And I'm not very good at it. Yet every year, I find myself out there, swinging as hard as I can, at that soon-to-be-submerged, little white ball.

Why?

Why do Christian men, who KNOW pornography is unhealthy spend time pursuing it? Why do sane men pay $100-a-round, in the attempt to get a ball they can barely see into a hole that's 450 feet away?

It's the same reason I find it difficult to drive past a Sonic Drive-In without stopping for a double-cheeseburger (mayo, hold the tomato…) and a Sonic-sized sweet tea. It's an addiction.

People are addicted to all kinds of things in life. For me, it's sweet tea and a good sandwich/burger or hoagie (and blogging). For my brother (and many of you reading :), it's really well-brewed beer. For some, it's a sport, or alcohol, or drugs, or porn or an emotion or the Lord's work, or pizza or… wait! Did he just say, "The Lord's work"?

Sure! In our society, we've been conditioned to believe that addictions are only bad things that will embarrass and defeat you, once you're eventually caught. But just today, I had an epiphany, as I was reading in I Corinthians chapter 16…

I Corinthians 16: 14-16:
Let all your things be done with charity.
I beseech you, brethren, (ye know the house of Stephanas, that it is the firstfruits of Achaia, and that they have addicted themselves to the ministry of the saints,)
That ye submit yourselves unto such, and to every one that helpeth with us, and laboureth. (Sorry. I'm old-school-KJV)

As I read, I was surprised to see the phrase, "they have addicted themselves". I asked myself, how is this possible? How can someone "addict themselves" to the ministry? I mean, do we "addict ourselves" to our vices? We're not born that way?!? (yikes!!)

Then I began to think about the nature of our addictions.

Most men don't necessarily want to look at porn (or do they?). But if a man makes the choice to focus his attention on lewd or explicit images, it will usually lead to a desire for more, and eventually will elicit physical, sexual reactions in response to those intangible images.

The same with golf (well not exactly…). That feeling after one good shot is all it takes to get a golfer back for another round. And the more he plays, the better he gets. The better he gets, the better he wants to get… to the point where golf consumes his mind… at home, at work and pretty much, all the time.

You see, addictions all start with attention. And that includes spiritual things. Once helping others or reading the scriptures or prayer has our attention, we have the choice to pursue that discipline or turn away. Once we pursue, we begin to create desire within ourselves that will eventually elicit a spiritual response. Eventually, we find ourselves desiring God and the things of God. Whether we're at home or at work, we become consumed with this new addiction to "minister" to God and those around us.

Ultimately, the spiritual things we experience as a result of these disciplines are consistently more powerful than our physical reactions to our vices. The result? The lesser gives way to the greater. The vice bows its knee to the discipline. Instead of trying to give up a bad habit on willpower alone, it gets replaced by a spiritual exercise with eternal benefits.

So the moral of this post is… Read your Bible, pray, and help those in need. Then, when a stripper invites you to a fun afternoon of burgers, beer & golf, you'll have the strength to refuse… yeah, right!

Señor Jefe is demerging at demerging.net.

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This entry was posted on Friday, June 29th, 2007 at 3:56 pm and is filed under Addiction, Jesus. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.