Ashamed About Masturbation No More: The ABC's to Victory
Part two is the best way to launch this commentary. It is a definite response to those who appealed for help after my recent article, I'm Ashamed to Admit I Have a Problem With Masturbation.
One person expressed it this way: "I appeal for part 2. This area is epidemic-especially among men. Please don't leave us hanging. We need more info and real solutions!"
So that's exactly what we will do. Let's lay out a strategy for success.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
If you haven't read the initial article, I encourage you to start by clicking here so you have a solid foundation for what follows. If you did read it, why not go through it once again. "Repetition is the mother of learning."
The response generated by the commentary is no surprise. Ever since I wrote a book almost 40 years ago entitled, Why Wait Till Marriage?, I've found issues related to sex draw lots of questions and attention. And that's a good thing so long as the answers come from sound, scriptural counsel.
Here's the deal: Those who are teachable and approach God for guidance in humility receive life-giving wisdom to bless their lives. Those who are prideful and twist the Scriptures for selfish reasons are resisted by God, don't progress and usually live defeated and depressed.
James 4:6 tells us, "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." Our Creator is not neutral towards the proud but opposes them. If there's one person in the entire universe you don't want opposing you, it's Almighty God!
Proverbs 28:13 instructs us, "Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper (advance; go forward) but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy." In other words, those who make excuses and rationalize sinful activity experience consequences and a residue of guilt that holds them back in a discouraged and depressed life.
Multitudes of people today are seeking relief and escape from the dealings of God in unbiblical ways. They're experiencing the conviction of a loving God who is lovingly "pressing down" on them to bring them into relationship with Him and freedom from the bondage of sin. "For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was sapped… Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity" (Ps 32:4-5).
God gave us a conscience to alert us when we're going down destructive paths. It's like the "idiot light" on our dashboard warning us of danger ahead. When that red light glows we're not to smash it and ignore the signal but rather pause and make adjustments to proceed ahead.
This is what many people wanted to do after reading the article on masturbation; yet not everyone.
Sampling Some Feedback:
• "I'm Ashamed to Admit I Have a Problem with Masturbation."
You don't have to be ashamed. It's not a problem!"
• "To call this sin is a gross misrepresentation of scripture… legalistic… getting people into guilt and condemnation to spend a lifetime unable to get victory over it because someone told them it is "SIN!"
• "The subject is dumb… a really dumb article."
• "Problem? This is not a problem – masturbation is not fornication. Since when is fornication the same as masturbation?" [Neither Scripture nor I stated this!].
• "This is ridiculous! What is the biblical basis for saying such a thing is something to be delivered from?"
And then there were positives:
• "Thank you. For five years I've lived victorious with just three falls along the way. Jesus told us if our hand causes us to sin we should cut it off. He was not meaning this literally but for emphasis so we avoid the destructiveness of sin. I thank Him for victory!"
• "Great work! I worked in juvenile detention and listened as leaders actually instructed young people to relieve sexual tension by masturbation."
• "No one has to live in shame! We've been set free from sin. We can overcome sinful practice by His grace and power. Many no longer blush showing how far we've fallen."
As we proceed let me underscore that we approach this issue totally from a Biblical worldview. The Bible addresses every situation we face in life including dealing with sexual desires and masturbation. "All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right" (2 Tim. 3:16 NLT).
We follow the divine blueprint for God's glory and our good. Those outside of God's kingdom will often ridicule these standards and mock God and His people. We mustn't be surprised. "But people who aren't spiritual can't receive these truths from God's Spirit. It also sounds foolish to them and they can't understand it, for only those who are spiritual can understand what the Spirit means" (1 Cor. 2:14 NLT).
Recently atheist comedian Bill Maher and lesbian commentator Rachel Madow teamed up on his RealTime cable show to lampoon a student booklet entitled Mormons Overcoming Masturbation: a Guide to Self-control. Glamorizing immorality and using profanity and vulgarity they had the audience hootin' and hollerin' as they mocked students standing together against pornography and avoiding the snare of masturbation.
RadioShack, clinging for survival as a corporation, is trying edgy TV ads with a young boy and his father portraying masturbation as harmless, humorous and normal.
As we have abandoned Judeo-Christian standards in America, we are increasingly encouraged to "Indulge yourself" rather than "Control yourself." Will you genuflect to the ways of the world or stand strong to honor God and live holy?
ABCs to Victory
A. Appropriate by faith your liberation from the power of sin.
Jesus Christ came to provide us not only forgiveness of sin but liberation from its power! Although it may seem incomprehensible to the natural mind, the Bible clearly teaches that we who have been "born again" have also been totally "freed from sin" (Rom. 6:7). WE HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO SIN BUT NO LONGER THE OBLIGATION.
This reality is a settled fact in the Supreme Court of heaven because of the finished work of Christ. It is not altered by whether someone believes it or not. Our declaration aligned with the Word of God should not be "God said it. I believe it. That settles it." What we should proclaim triumphantly is, "God said it. That settles it! "
Read Romans 6:1–22: "That we might no longer be enslaved to sin… Freed from sin… Sin will have no dominion over you… Set free from sin… You have been set free from sin." This includes enslaving sexual sin like compulsive masturbation aligned with pornography or lustful fantasies fueling it in the mind.
The challenge we face is that we've been a slave to sin for so long that when the "good news" comes to us, deep down inside we really don't believe it. It's like a slave who served for 40 years in blistering hot cotton fields being told that Abraham Lincoln just issued the "Emancipation Proclamation" and now he was a free man!
Initially it's too good to be true. Set free. No longer trapped. Able to walk triumphantly released from bondage. After years of living one way to discover a brand-new liberated lifestyle seems mind-boggling at first blush. But in time as it sinks in, this once-burdened man eventually walks out into the warmth of the sun, extends his arms heavenward, lifts his head towards his ascended Lord and Savior and with tears streaming down his face is finally able to declare resoundingly, "I...I...I really have been set free! Glory be to God!"
This same thing can happen to you if you step forward in faith to please God and make a quality decision to walk pure in your daily life. "You don't have to serve sin today for you have been set free!"
What I did I again share with you. For years I had the above scriptural statement personalized on my hallway mirror. I confessed it almost daily. Romans 6:6–7 was my lifeline. Little by little my mind was renewed to believe this fact. In time the reality of this verse hit me like an atomic explosion. I've never been the same.
