5 Motivations to Resist the Click

“When you guard your purity, you’re protecting a treasure, so apply yourself to its longevity the way you’d protect anything valuable. Recognize its worth. Work hard to keep it, and reject anything which threatens it.” –Joe Dallas

To successfully resist the click, it is necessary to have more in place than mere willpower. We must be steadfast with putting in the laborious work of figuring out why we’re using porn to begin with and then have a feasible plan to derail the train of lust before it starts down the tracks.

A warrior is strategic in his approach to conquering what is out to destroy him. A sailor calculates the threat of the sea before embarking on troubled waters. A speaker prepares for difficult questions in advance. Becoming debt-free demands we stay on a strict budget and designate the extra money accordingly. Keeping the home in order is maintained through structure and routine. Gaining self-control requires no less of a plan.

Related: Do you have the motivation it takes to quit porn?

Before your next porn binge, ponder how it will affect the following:

Your Legacy

The building of a legacy resembles the building of a reputation. It is formed over the course of time with many contributing factors. What has taken years to build can be decimated in a matter of seconds if or when you are discovered to be a liar, a hypocrite, or even worse, an absolute fraud for compromising your integrity, either privately or publicly.

Despite popular opinion, every choice we make matters. Everything we do, say, and think is sowing seed. What we reap will accurately reflect what was sown. “He who walks in integrity walks securely, but he who perverts his ways will be found out.” (Proverbs 10:9, NASB)

Your Example

Your worldview showcases itself through the myriad choices you make on a day-by-day basis. Your spouse, children, or the people around you are learning by your example and their own worldview is being formed through the way you handle whatever life throws at you. To be in close proximity to other people is to influence and be influenced, whether we like it or not.

To be intentional about right living is to recognize that your decisions and lifestyle matter. How you handle loss and choose to cope with the unexpected is sending a clear message to the people under your care and in your sphere of influence. Your choices are being observed by others (even if all they know is that you spend an inordinate amount of time alone which can unfortunately cause them to think isolation and turning away from loved ones, accountability, or even the church is a viable option in distress or discomfort). How you choose to celebrate and relax is also making an imprint. Your feelings, attitude, comments, and actions are all teaching impressionable minds and no one is exempt from the damage or good that may result.

Your Time

“Resolved, never to lose one moment of time; but improve it the most profitable way I possibly can.” –Jonathan Edwards

In light of eternity and by seeing time through the lens of Scripture, we will clearly see the need and feel the conviction to spend our days in what will yield rewarding and wholesome results. One simply cannot read the word of God without being reminded of life’s brevity and without seeing that sin, despite its glamorous appeal, is ruinous and in opposition to God’s best. To treat our hours flippantly is to mock God’s provision in giving us yet another day. Honoring our King, adhering to biblical admonitions, and so treasuring our relationship with Christ is the solution to wasting time or spending it on selfish indulgences.

“Numbering our days is not enough. We need God, the author of life, to teach us what numbering our days really means. We need God to teach us what our few days are for, so we steward them well. Then we will have a heart of wisdom.” –Jon Bloom

Your Commitments

Pornography can have an all-encompassing effect on us (in mind and body) to the degree that our commitments (and relationships) suffer neglect or are attended to halfheartedly because of our perverted obsessions. We simply cannot be “all there” with our responsibilities and privileges if our lust is consuming our thoughts and taking away from our ability to be present, be active, or be involved.

Your Soul’s Health

“Most lives, relationships, businesses, and dreams don’t blow up all at once. The forces that destroy them start small, seemingly insignificant, as ethical convictions are pushed aside ‘just this once.’ We always think small indiscretions, momentary lapses, harmless fantasies, and one-time transgressions have no momentum–but they do.” –David W. Hegg
Outright disobedience to God’s law erodes our intimacy with Him. When we disregard the commands and exhortations found in His word to leave the old ways behind (First Peter 1:14-16, Romans 13:14, First Thessalonians 5:22), we begin to stray from godly living and proceed down a dark and calamitous road that results in nothing good. Nobility and honor soon fade from our character. A mature, Christ-centered, others-focused mindset is devastatingly slain.

“When a man is getting better he understands more and more clearly the evil that is still left in him. When a man is getting worse he understands his own badness less and less.” –C. S. Lewis

Go, Fight, Win!

Addictions take many forms and yet all can be conquered. You cannot vanquish an enemy without first identifying it, understanding how and why it has access to your life, and then implementing a clear set of tactics that will weaken its power and equip you to annihilate it.

Related: How to Quit Porn–6 Essential Steps

Every day is a new day and every hour is a new hour. May you now have newfound resolve to follow the advice of Edna Mode from The Incredibles, “Go! Confront the problem! Fight! Win!”