The Battle Is Won Together

Together We Win | Contact Coach John David

From: Broken Promises, Severe Mercies, and Redemption.

Let’s imagine you are my very best friend. What if you had a key to a time machine that could take me back to the night of my arrest, to the very moment before I knocked on that hotel room door? I don’t want that key. I don’t want the key because the pain has been redemptive.

“Dabbling in porn is like dabbling in cancer. It will slowly eat you alive.”

I don’t want the key because the pain has produced tenderness in my heart; it has produced a yearning for genuine intimacy with God—never before have my mornings with God been sweeter. The pain gave me eyes to see people outside of the context of my needs. I learned that the opposite of lust is not avoidance, but rather it is love.

When I began to see women not as objects of temptation but as image-bearers of our God, I began to see people as God’s children and to feel their pain. It has been so very, very worth it. I want to speak to those who wage this battle alone. The battle cannot be won alone.

The opposite of addiction is not sobriety but rather it is joyful community. Jonathan Hari illustrates this in a popular TED Talk available on YouTube. There are allies ready to fight alongside you. Worse than fighting alone is the idea that it is not a big deal. Perhaps you are thinking “I only dabble in pornography”. Dabbling in porn is like dabbling in cancer. It will slowly eat you alive.