By David Theobald

If you put in a dollar, push the button, a pop (soda or coke depending on your state of residence) will emerge for you to drink. That is the timeless commitment of a pop machine. That is the pact that all the vending machines agree on at their conventions. It promises to deliver beverage when you put in the proper change.

What happens when it doesn’t deliver what it promised? What happens when you uphold your end of the bargain, but the dang machine doesn’t?

I feel pretty upset when this happens to me. There have been plenty of times I have had my heart set on a sugary rush, and a commitment-breaking-machine tried to stop me from getting it! I have shaken and kicked my share of pop machines. Or my most recent coin loss was to a silly car vacuum. I can’t remember the exact success rate of the “abuse method”, but I am guessing the pop machine and all other vending machines still holds the lead in the overall tally.

I know I have never signed a contract before I put my money in…but the agreement is understood! I have every right to that soda! How angry we get when something is promised to us, but it never shows up. This must be one of the deepest pains known to humanity.

If broken promises breed this kind of pain and anger, like they do with the pop machine, and the vacuum, then pornography must breed anger as well. Pornography is full of empty promises. In the words of Pastor Rob Bell “It promises and does not deliver.”

“You will feel better if you go to this website”

“You will have less anxiety if you masturbate right now”

“Your body needs this release, lust and masturbation will give it to you”

“You will learn more about sex, and be better at it, if you look at this”

“You will have immediate gratification, and no long term consequences if you go through with this”

“You have been working so hard, you will enjoy the porn reward”

From personal experience, I know that all lines above are empty promises. Sure I feel good for a moment, sure the rush is quite nice, but does it really relieve me of anxiety? My anxiousness actually decreases for a moment after I lust, but when the rush subsides, the anxiousness increases. The fear is not gone. I know that I feel more controlled, and less in control (less freedom) of my God-given desires. I know that lust has clouded my mind more than it has relieved it of tension. It has distracted me from my goals more than it has blazed a clear trail.

A majority of the anger inside me is from believing in promises that have left me dry and empty. Porn lies to us. It claims to offer more benefits than it follows through with. The more I look at porn the more anger is ignited inside of me. Anger was never on the list of “what I wanted to be when I grew up”. If indulgence seems attractive to you, ask yourself what benefit you are really getting from it. After the short-lived buzz are you a bit disappointed? Is that disappointment leading to machine-kicking anger?

The best part is that a remedy exists for the frequent indulger and the angry machine kicker. Confess your sins to a brother, pray for one another, be healed. Rinse and repeat, for the rest of your life. I call it the 516 lifestyle. James 5:16 says “Confess your sins to one another, and pray for each other so you can be healed, for the prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective”.

I have seen quite a few men relieved of heavy burdens and experience healing by sharing things with me that they had kept secret for a long time. By releasing their shame to Jesus, they were lifted of great heaviness. Confess and be healed. No more angry kicking, that is a promise that always delivers.