Do. Not. Look.

I need to tell you a story. I share this story not to embarrass Daddy, but to teach a lesson. He has given me permission to share it. In the first year of our marriage, after Daddy returned from a business trip covering an away game, I found a porn magazine in his brief case. I was devastated. Apparently whatever I had wasn't enough that he had to look elsewhere. I felt my insides shrivel up in humiliation and embarrassment. And I was angry. I was so angry, I tore out every single picture and laid them all over the bed. When he came in the bedroom, I motioned to the bed, "Sleep with them. That's who you obviously want," and I walked away. I remember telling him later, "If you ever do that again, at least have the grace to throw it away before you get home." I never saw another one, and he tells me he never bought another one.

Pornography is one of the greatest evils in our world. It is completely destructive. And according to our Savior Jesus Christ, is adultery. After all He said in His Sermon on the Mount found in Matthew 5:27-28, "You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart." So if you're looking at pornography, you are breaking the seventh commandment. 

I read that 95 percent of the people who view pornography are men, so this is addressed mostly to our boys, but know, ladies, that it can be a problem for you as well. Pornography leads to feelings of guilt. It desensitizes males to the beauty that is sexual stimulation within a marriage. It's addictive. It can destroy a marriage relationship. Just ask Anna Duggar how she feels after her husband admitted his addiction to porn and subsequent affairs. It's a demon of the worst kind. And it's every where. According to Jerry Ropelato, more than 40% of internet users go to pornographic sites ... oh, and there are 4.2 million of them. I love this quote from C.S. Lewis: "You can get a large audience together for a strip-tease act - that is, to watch a girl undress on the state. Now suppose you came to a country where you could fil a theatre by simply bringing a covered plate on to the stage and then slowly lifting the cover so as to let every one see, just before the lights went out, that it contained a mutton chop or a bit of bacon, should you not think that in that country something had grown wrong with the appetite for food?" What does this say about our society's obsession with pornography?

So what to do? Don't look. How's that for simple? Do. Not. Look. If I get a bag of sea salt vinegar potato chips, I will go through the whole bag. And they are so bad for me. So what do I do? I don't buy them. I can't watch movies that have bloody violence, because I will have nightmares for days. I don't care if it's the best movie in the world with the greatest acting ever. I will not watch. Because of pornography's destructive, sick affect on people, do not look. Stay away. Don't even peek. Because that's a door Satan is quite successful at pushing wide open if ajar even a tiny crack. You Daddy said it's like a forest fire. All it takes is one spark. And he warns that pornography is not just a magazine with a bunch of nudie girls. Even the slightest provocative images can be a problem for men. The Hardees commercials of late? Victoria's Secret ads? Even regular television shows push the porn boundary. These are not helpful to men wanting to keep their minds on their wives. So keep that door slammed, bolted shut.

Keep your eyes focused on your beloved. In the words of Daddy, "Love your wife!" He actually yelled that. And he added, "Wives, love your husbands," commenting that keeping your sex life active helps. Find every bit of your spouse beautiful and desirable. Let me say, that your Daddy has never made me feel undesired. He makes me feel like I am the most beautiful, sexiest woman in the world. When I asked him why he felt that way about me he said, "I think because I saw the way my grandfather loved my grandmother and the way my Dad loved my Mom. I knew that was important."

You are who the Lord selected for one another. So keep your eyes right where they are supposed to be ... on each other. 

Discussion: What would you consider to be pornography? How can you protect yourself from pornography? 

Prayer: Father, forgive us for taking something that is beautiful and twisting it into something harmful and ugly. Lord, fill us with your Holy Spirit and a desire for our spouse alone. May we always be sexually fulfilled in our relationship. In Jesus name, Amen.