Are YOU a Mental Virgin?
Satan works feverishly to tempt our eyes and control our imaginations.
In your life, establish solid boundaries so that casual contact doesn’t allow seeds of future temptation to be planted.
I can hardly see in. It’s at a busy corner at the entrance of town and so unless I slow down to a crawl, I can’t really distinguish much except the colors of the football uniforms on the big screen televisions hanging above the bar.
I can’t see much detail, but it doesn’t really matter. It’s the thought that counts.
Every guy that’s ever passed a billboard with one of those girls on it will have a hard time forgetting them. For the Hooters girls are proof that Satan works feverishly not just to tempt our eyes but to infiltrate and control our imaginations. The real temptation of the Hooters girls is not that they wear tight clothes. Think about it. We can see provocatively dressed women (and more of them) almost anywhere...at the movies, on TV, and even at church on Sunday mornings.
No, the hook is that these girls openly desire to be our fantasy.
They wanted to be Hooters girls.
They applied for the job knowing what they were getting in to.
There is no doubt that they understand the minds of men and are willing participants in the fantasy.
Since this temptation occurs at a fixed location, I have been profoundly fascinated by the chemical response this triggers involuntarily. My heart quickens. I experience a curious mixture of excitement and fear—desire and tension.
This “trigger” is a learned response—similar to what athletes call “muscle memory.”
Motion picture soundtracks are a good example of how our brains develop muscle memory.
Remember the soundtrack of Jaws? Even though the theme is played by the same instruments that might perform the Star Spangled Banner, the Jaws theme involuntarily triggers fearful visuals and unsettling emotions. (Believe me! It won’t be the theme song for Florida Tourism anytime soon.) The Mission Impossible theme is the same way, but it offers thrilling excitement. Do you want to pump yourself up? Try the theme from Rocky and go run some steps! Our minds are definitely programmable.
So how does this relate to your daily battle against lust? Watch enough sexually explicit movies and you’ll begin to believe that everywhere guy meets girl from across a crowded room, they’re bound to be tumbling into bed within fifteen minutes.
It becomes programmed into your mind. And the next time a great looking woman innocently looks at you from across the room, your mind is headed to places it has no business being. Your muscle memory has been triggered! While enticement is passive temptation, triggers are“repeated, expected temptations.”
If imagination wins once the battle begins, how does a man live in a world full of triggers; from Hooters’ billboards to Victoria’s Secret commercials? The Bible specifically commands us to cast down “imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. (II Cor. 10:5)
The first step is to identify the triggers in your life and root them out of your schedule, your eyesight, and eventually, your mind.
Let’s start by isolating the times when you are most vulnerable. Remember back to the last few times you struggled with extreme mental sexual temptation or maybe you actually fell and acted out. Where did the downward slide begin? What were the things you were exposed to that planted the seed of desire? Let me give you a few ideas.
Common Muscle Memory Triggers We Might Face Every Day
• Viewing movies with sexual humor or nudity
• Surfing the internet
• Watching TV programs with sexual innuendoes
• Browsing in a video store
• Reading personal ads
• Channel surfing the TV late at night
• Glancing through a Victoria’s Secret catalogue
• Browsing through the magazines in a convenience store
EPHESIANS 4:17–19 (THE MESSAGE)
(Let) there be no going along with the crowd, the emptyheaded, mindless crowd. They’ve refused for so long to deal with God that they’ve lost touch not only with God but with reality itself. They can’t think straight anymore. Feeling no pain, they let themselves go in sexual obsession, addicted to every sort of perversion.
In your life, establish solid boundaries so that casual contact doesn’t allow seeds of future temptation to be planted. It’s easier to control your sexual muscle memory when you’re separated from the triggers.
Don’t follow the mindless, empty-headed crowd as they saturate themselves with counterfeit pleasure. Expose yourself to fun family events, Christian music, and TV and movies that depict healthy relationships. Choosing these will build up healthy appetites instead of insatiable hungers.
