Most of us have experienced the gut-wrenching feeling of seeing what I’ve heard referred to as “the blue screen of death.” Your computer has finally crashed. Headaches and frustration will surely follow in the years ahead as you gradually remember all the files, documents, special pictures, songs and countless other things that you’ve worked so hard to accumulate but which are now gone forever. It’s a feeling that is rather unique to this generation. Ugh ... it’s terrible.

But, friend, apart from catastrophe, hearts and minds don’t suddenly “crash.” Unlike the computers we use every day, there’s no amount of deleting or reformatting that can remove the sensual images we’ve laid our eyes upon. Men know this especially well, but it applies to women, too. Sexy images and stories remain etched on the deepest parts of us for our entire lives. No “pop-up blocker” can stop them from being called to recollection. It’s easy to wipe the cache of a computer, but much more difficult to clean the character of a person.

The computer you’re now using has access to approximately 3.5 billion web pages. Approximately 12% of those are considered pornographic by people who probably are not as conservatively minded as you and I. Sadly, the vast majority of those who frequent these sites are between the ages of 12 and 17.

Perhaps you are represented in these statistics. As your read these words, you wrestle with condemnation. You’ve read that David committed to “...set nothing wicked before [his] eyes...” (cf. Psalm 101:3), and you wish you could click “undo” on some poor decisions you’ve made as you’ve surfed the web.

You don’t have to click again. You don’t have to be hooked.

God’s grace is sufficient for even this. Use this opportunity to “reformat your heart drive” to be used as intended by the Manufacturer who fearfully and wonderfully made you in His own image.

Suggested (free) web resources to help battle pornography and create healthy attitudes toward sex:

About the author

Peter LaRuffa is a native New Yorker. Though he misses “real pizza” and the sounds of crowded city streets and inner city neighborhoods, today Peter serves as Associate Pastor of Student Ministry at a Bible-believing church south of Cincinnati, Ohio. In addition to youth-focused ministry, Peter has served as a worship leader, biblical counselor, and as a preacher and teacher for both adults and youth within his local church, as well as at various camps, retreats, and conferences. http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/2007/03/29/teens-and-pornography