Every day, Christian men and women forfeit future happiness for the sake of temporary sexual stimulation. Like drug addicts, we go from fix to fix, trading the con­tentment of righteous living for the quick hits that always leave us empty, craving more.

The following is an excerpt from my book The Purity Principle. I’m sharing it as a follow up to my recent post about Moral Failings of Christian Leaders Should Make Us Examine Ourselves Closely.

Eric stormed into my office and flopped into a chair. “I’m really mad at God.”

Having grown up in a strong church family, he’d met and married a Christian girl. Now he was the picture of misery.

“Okay…so why are you mad at God?”

“Because,” he said, “last week I committed adultery.” Long pause. Finally I said, “I can see why God would be mad at you. But why are you mad at God?”

Eric explained that for several months he’d felt a strong, mutual attraction with a woman at his office. He’d prayed earnestly that God would keep him from immorality.

“Did you ask your wife to pray for you?” I said. “Did you stay away from the woman?”

“Well…no. We went out for lunch almost every day.”

Slowly I started pushing a big book across my desk. Eric watched, uncomprehending, as the book inched closer and closer to the edge. I prayed aloud, “O Lord, please keep this book from falling!”

I kept pushing and praying. God didn’t suspend the law of gravity. The book went right over the edge, smacking the floor.

“I’m mad at God,” I said to Eric. “I asked Him to keep my book from falling…but He let me down!”

The Choices That Ruin Us

To this day, I can still hear the sound of that book hitting the floor. It was a picture of Eric’s life. Young, gifted, and blessed with a wife and little girl, Eric brimmed with potential.

His story didn’t end that day. Eventually he became a sexual predator, molesting his own daughter. He’s been in prison for years now, repentant but suffering the consequences of inching his life toward the edge until gravity took over.

How many of us Christians hope God will guard us from calamity and misery, while every day we make small, seemingly inconsequential immoral choices that inch us toward bigger immoralities?

Tiffany and Kyle also grew up in the church. When the youth pastor warned against premarital sex, they had trou­ble taking him seriously. Their movies, television, and music focused on sex. One night after youth group, Tiffany gave in to Kyle. It was painful, nauseating…nothing like in the movies. Afterward she felt horrible. Kyle was mad at her because she wasn’t supposed to let it happen.

Tiffany started sleeping around, trying to find a guy who’d love her. She never did—they just used her and moved on. She quit going to church. One day she discov­ered she was pregnant. A friend drove her to an abortion clinic. Now she’s plagued by dreams about the child she killed.

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