Defeat Lust & Pornography
Defeat Lust & Pornography 1 minute read

A Peace Too Costly

Last Updated: February 21, 2014

You have been given the choice between war and dishonor.
You have chosen dishonor, and you will have war!

-Winston Churchill to the English Parliament, 1938

After the English Parliament’s 1938 appeasement in Czechoslovakia, Churchill saw the danger of choosing peace, when honor and common sense called for battle. History, of course, would confirm his point: Refusing to fight an honorable battle may afford a temporary peace, but in the long run, it’s a peace too costly. Delaying a necessary battle may well result in devastating, full scale war. Every man who’s gotten involved in sexual sin makes a decision between battle and dishonor. And as always, dishonor looks like an easier choice.

Dishonor means making peace with your sin. It means telling yourself that after so many years, it’s become such a part of your life that trying to cut it out would be too traumatic, too uncomfortable. It would mean saying goodbye to a reliable (though destructive) friend, and the battle to abstain from this “friend,” with all the temptations and struggles it would involve, seems too demanding. So a dishonorable compromise is reached when a man decides to live in peaceful co-existence with sexual sin.

But tyrants never co-exist peacefully. By their nature, they demand increased territory, fewer limitations, more captives. So the sin that a man decides not to go to war against – the pornography, the affair, the commercial sex – soon demands more territory. It begins invading his career, his family, health and reputation. By the time he realizes he has to go to war against it, he’s already relinquished too much ground. Now he finds that what could have been a brief skirmish, if paid attention to early, has become full blown war. He chose dishonor over battle. In the end, he winds up with both.

Men of Honor, fighting mad, enlisted, and committed, no longer surrender territory that belongs to sexual integrity. I hope you’re one of them.

Comments on: A Peace Too Costly
  1. Joe, wise and serious words here. Thanks for sharing!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related in Defeat Lust & Pornography

Editor's Picks

A normal couple in bed watching porn.

Defeat Lust & Pornography

Is Watching Porn Normal?

Statistics show that watching porn is extremely common—but does that make it…

9 minute read

Read Post

Editor's Picks

Man looking in the mirror, thinking about his identity.

Defeat Lust & Pornography

7 Identities That Make Pornography Fade Into Insignificance

Right now our culture seems to be obsessed with identifying ourselves by…

8 minute read

Read Post

Editor's Picks

Scientist looking at a brain scan for dopamine.

Defeat Lust & Pornography

Porn and Dopamine: Superstar or Supervillain?

Dopamine has received a lot of popular press these days, especially when…

6 minute read

Read Post

Editor's Picks

A young man studying lust in the Bible at the library.

Defeat Lust & Pornography

What is lust in the Bible?

You probably don’t hear the word “lust” very often outside of church…

11 minute read

Read Post

Editor's Picks

Young man graduating from college.

Defeat Lust & Pornography

My Integrity Is Not for Sale: Living With Integrity in an Immoral World

There are some statements that stick better in my mind than others.…

5 minute read

Read Post

Editor's Picks

silhouette of a man standing on a hill

Defeat Lust & Pornography

John’s Story: From Darkness to Light

How can a young person live a life of integrity using today’s…

5 minute read

Read Post

Related in Defeat Lust & Pornography

A normal couple in bed watching porn.

Defeat Lust & Pornography

Is Watching Porn Normal?

Statistics show that watching porn is extremely common—but does that make it…

Statistics show that watching porn is extremely common—but does that make it normal? Two-thirds of men regularly consume pornography along with a third of women. So it is true that plenty of normal people watch…

9 minute read

1 comment

Man looking in the mirror, thinking about his identity.

Defeat Lust & Pornography

7 Identities That Make Pornography Fade Into Insignificance

Right now our culture seems to be obsessed with identifying ourselves by…

Right now our culture seems to be obsessed with identifying ourselves by our genitalia, sexuality, political views, and skin color. Of course, these can be important pieces to a person’s identity, but they are only…

8 minute read

0 comments

Scientist looking at a brain scan for dopamine.

Defeat Lust & Pornography

Porn and Dopamine: Superstar or Supervillain?

Dopamine has received a lot of popular press these days, especially when…

Dopamine has received a lot of popular press these days, especially when it comes to things like watching porn. Depending on who you ask, you might think dopamine is a superstar or a supervillain. Once…

6 minute read

2 comments

A young man studying lust in the Bible at the library.

Defeat Lust & Pornography

What is lust in the Bible?

You probably don’t hear the word “lust” very often outside of church…

You probably don’t hear the word “lust” very often outside of church these days. If, like me, you grew up in the heyday of evangelical Purity Culture, you probably heard it a lot! But even…

11 minute read

0 comments

Young man graduating from college.

Defeat Lust & Pornography

My Integrity Is Not for Sale: Living With Integrity in an Immoral World

There are some statements that stick better in my mind than others.…

There are some statements that stick better in my mind than others. One statement that caught my attention years ago from a pastoral mentor: “My integrity is not for sale.” When I first heard this…

5 minute read

0 comments

silhouette of a man standing on a hill

Defeat Lust & Pornography

John’s Story: From Darkness to Light

How can a young person live a life of integrity using today’s…

How can a young person live a life of integrity using today’s technology? This is a question I have asked myself thousands of times. Growing up, it was always my heart’s desire to live a…

5 minute read

0 comments