The Loneliest Battle

This was a Youth Ministry assignment.

Blogger doesn't allow larger images, so the text would be hard to read... I chucked it down below for the benefit of those who want to look at something more legible than (what appears to be) dummy text (lorem ipsum dolor sit amet):

The Loneliest Battle

by Shearn Sya

Let me introduce you to John. John is a regular sixteen year old guy who attends church every Sunday with his parents, is the President of the youth group on Saturdays, does well in school, hangs out with the right crowd, and seems to have his life all together. Except for a certain habit that tempts him every night in the privacy of his room. A habit that no one would witness. A habit that he could not possibly share about during youth group. A habit that he couldn’t tell his parents about. A habit that he desperately tries to put a stop to but like a crown of thorns it digs into his flesh the more he tries to remove it. A habit called masturbation.

We live in a world that tells us that, as long as you’ve hit puberty, being a virgin is something to be ashamed of. Take a look at any magazine at a newsstand and you’re likely to find something to do with sex on the cover. Fashion demands for plunging necklines and shorter skirts. Sex scenes and jokes about sex in movies and TV are normal. And let’s not forget the Internet. It doesn’t matter whether you’re on Facebook socialising with your friends or you’re researching on communism - somewhere along the way you’re probably going to run into a banner about an x-ray scanner that sees through clothes or a social networking service just for sex. All this and more constantly bombard us with sex, sex, and more sex. Take this Gospel of Sex and mix it with a teen’s natural hormones and you’ll probably end up with someone like John.

John is not a rare breed. He’s as common as you and I and every other Christian teen. And let’s face it - what he struggles with is something many of us struggle with. Whether we were born and bred as Christians or we just said the Sinner’s Prayer last week, we are still vulnerable to all kinds of sin. So what makes masturbation so different? Let me give you an example.

Remember those epic battle scenes from the Lord of the Rings? Picture hordes of Uruk-hai and every assortment of Dark Creatures you can think of thundering their way across a flat plain towards your armies of Dwarves, Elves, and Men, all armed to the teeth and ready to do battle. Now hit Pause. Let’s start up our cognitive Photoshop and do a little editing on that picture.

Leave the forces of Sauron alone, but edit out all the Elves, all the Dwarves, and all the Men, except for one young soldier. Now zoom in and replace his broadsword with a pillow and substitute all his heavy plate mail armor with a pair of boxers. Click save.

That is a picture of John. He’s being assaulted by Uruk-hais each time he goes on the Internet. Nazguls lurk behind each page in every magazine he flips through. A Balrog leaps on him when he watches a movie. Cave trolls occupy the conversations his friends have with him. And he faces all these monsters alone.

John can’t fight the battle alongside others because even though sex is everywhere in the world he lives in, he can’t talk about it in church, the one place in his life that agrees with his conviction that masturbation is wrong. It would be too embarrassing to talk about it to anyone, or even to ask for prayer. So what is left for John? He prays for God to help him, and he makes a commitment to change. He dons some shiny new armor and wields a wicked sharp sword, and even gets a gatling gun air-dropped in. And it works... for awhile. Then one day when his armor’s cracked and rusty, his weapons are broken, and he’s tired, frustrated, and lonely, Sauron attacks, and he’s back in Mordor.

Now don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that even with God masturbation cannot be conquered. It’s very possible that God delivers you from the bondage of masturbation and that’s the end of it. If that were so, then all’s very well and good. I’m just saying that many times, God’s plan for us doesn’t include the easy way out, and a good struggle is in order to build us up.

So what does the sensible man do when faced with an army? The first thing he does is RUN! (Rambo would stand his ground, but notice I mentioned ‘sensible.’) Fleeing from temptation is one of the most crucial steps in dealing with masturbation. Rather than venturing into an Uruk-hai training camp hoping to avoid any unpleasant encounters, avoid the camp altogether! If you’re aware that going online at night gets you tempted, then don’t go online at night. Even safer, move your computer out of your room and into a public area.

What does the sensible man do next? He recruits his Legolases and Gimlis to help him watch his back. Knowing that you have a problem with masturbation isn’t enough. You need to find someone or someones to keep you accountable to the commitments you make. When you feel tempted, grab your phone and make that call right away. Whether your friend prays with you or just chats with you, it would be much tougher to yield to masturbation when you know full well that your friend’s going to ask you about it the next day.

“Now hang on a sec. That’s it?” you ask. “I just keep running with others watching my back as I run some more?”

Well, yes, that’s it. You just keep running and the running will get easier until eventually you look up one day and you notice that you’re nowhere near Mordor and that there’s not an enemy in sight. And while you were running, Gandalf the Technicolored came along and zapped the daylights out of Sauron and gang. God wins the battle for you. All you need to do is have faith and persevere.

That’s what John is doing. The battle still isn’t over for him. But it’s only a matter of time until it’s won, and until then, he’s not so lonely.

fin.