porn for the brain, food for the stomach

This is not an attractive thing to admit, but I've been thinking about the similarities in my impulses to look at porn, and my impulses to eat excessively. They are similar in that when I get the urge to do either activity, I must quickly push it out of my mind lest I think on it long enough, picture myself doing it, imagine the resulting gratification -- and then do so.

Both urges come most often when I am bored. Both urges start with my thoughts. At the time, I know I should not, I know it will not be good for me, and I know I will regret it later. But in giving in -- in either sin -- it feels good, it satisfies for the shortest moment, and I am able to literally get my "fill."

Afterward, reality sets in. With porn, I feel further from God because constant images of sex are on the brain rather than Him. With food, I am full and steadily gaining weight; I know I am not glorifying God with my body.

...Their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is set on earthly things.(Philippians 3:19)

 “Everything is permissible for me”—but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible for me”—but I will not be mastered by anything. “Food for the stomach and the stomach for food”—but God will destroy them both. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. (1 Corinthians 6:12-13)

I shared this concept with my parents one morning, and my mom responded by reading this passage from Jerry Bridge's Holiness Day By Day.

"Self-control involves a wider range of watchfulness than merely control of bodily appetites and desires. We must also exercise self-control of thoughts, emotions, and speech. Self-control says yes to what we should do as well as no to what we shouldn't... "I beat my body and make it my slave" (1 Corinthians 9:27).

Self-control is necessary because we're at war with our own sinful desires. James described those desires as dragging us away and enticing us into sin (1:14). Peter said they war against our souls (1 Peter 2:11). Paul spoke of them as deceitful (Ephesians 4:22). What makes those sinful desires so dangerous is that they dwell within our own heart. External temptations wouldn't be nearly as dangerous if they did not find this ally of desire right within us.

These desires are within us, and they begin with our thoughts. It is at this point that we must exercise self-control, re-train our sinful thought habits toward new, godly thought patterns so that they eventually produce fruits of righteousness in our actions.