How to Use "The Lust Dare"
Day #9: Books….
“I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of
the flesh.”
-Galatians 5:16
I was one
of those radical girls. You know the kind who was going to save her first kiss
until she got married? Yeah, that was me, the crazy pure type. The kind who was
always getting teased for being a goody two-shoes. The kind who was always
asked why I didn’t wear more revealing clothes. I mean a mini skirt never
killed anyone right?
But I was
intent on staying pure. What I didn’t realize was that it wasn’t just a matter
of physical purity. There is mental and emotional purity as well, and I was
unaware. So unaware that I slipped a lot farther than I ever intended to go. It
really started when I was like 14 and was handed my first romance novel. It was
titled Christian Fiction, but it started something much bigger. I loved the
book. In fact I have read it four or five times now. And I began to read
others. I would fall asleep at night dreaming of when I would have a man like
the ones in the book.
I would
smuggle romance novels under my mother’s nose so as not to hear her chiding. I
would dream of some of the aspects of my wedding night or the days after when I
was falling asleep at night. Not as racy of thoughts as some, I guess, but I
went much farther than I could ever fully admit to any of my fellow purists. I
volunteered at a bookshop, and in my spare time would grab romance novels off
of shelves and read the more steamy pieces.
I almost want to stop here and
clarify that I never got as far as the adult section, or some of those romance
authors who are well known for their steamier passages. But that is beside the
point. I had an issue, and it was getting bigger.
Funny
that a book was the thing that revealed my problem. Books are pretty much my
life. They have taken me everywhere from Boston
to Africa to Narnia. They have been my comfort
after a long cry, aided me in some of my most devious plans or ideas, and been
a main source of my laughter and mirth. But then books were also a huge part of
my problem. They contributed to my late night musings, and my impure thoughts.
Books
really were the beginning of the whole lust issue, and it was also through
books that I realized how bad it had become. When I found myself reading really
steamy parts of romance novels, things that I still have a hard time dispelling
from my head 19 months later, I knew that my lust had grown to an insane level.
So I took radical steps. I grabbed a box and went into my room. I started
perusing the shelves. Every book that had even a hint of romance in it, I threw
in the box. And I mean, even a hint.
I got rid of Jane Austen novels, I got rid of Runaway Jury, because the protagonist
has a girl who shows up here and there throughout the story, I mean everything.
If I knew there was a scene in the book where the characters so much as hugged,
I tossed the book. Those books ending up going to a book shop and I got some
cash for them. But I could have just thrown them all away as well. Sometimes
such radical steps are definitely called for.
There was a girl named Kelsea who faced a similar battle
and said “It’s been hard, but I’ve noticed that by not reading any romances,
and fasting and praying, the lust in my mind is really coming under control.
Praise God! I still have lapses, but they are much fewer than before.” I
resonate so strongly with this Kelsea, and have seen the same exact things in
my own life.
“But each one is
tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed.”
–James 1:14
Today’s Dare
My dare to you today is to take any books that you might
own or that might be lying around the house and tempting you and get rid of
them. If they are a temptation, or might cause you to lust in any way, throw
them out! Do not think that you can just skip certain parts of the book, but
get rid of the temptation entirely. And then take a deep breath because you are
more free from that sin which entangles.
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