On Tuesday night, our Courage chaplain gave a talk about the need to focus on doing good and performing acts of virtue in the spiritual life, rather than simply focusing on avoiding sin. This was a great topic for me, since I am certainly guilty on overly-focusing on my sins. I am constantly praying for help in dealing with my temptations to masturbate, and when I am confronted with that temptation, I usually just think to myself that I don’t want to give in. It’s no wonder that I fall into the sin of masturbation so much… it’s something that’s always on my mind.
Our Courage chaplain gave us a solution to this problem: focus on service to others and to God. He also told us to look for any opportunity to do good in our lives. This is something I have tried to incorporate into my life. Several Sundays per month, I spend some time helping others meet their needs. It’s great because it helps me get my mind off my troubles and helps me to see that other people have problems that are much more serious than mine.
I also think that another answer to this problem is to not pray so much about masturbation. That may sound counter intuitive, but in reality I think it makes a lot of sense. What’s the point of praying for the grace to avoid falling into sin when Scripture tells us that God gives us all the graces we need to deal with the temptations He sends our way? Instead of focusing so much on sin, I should meditate on God’s great love for me, and how I will be able to spend eternity in perfect happiness if I am faithful to Him in this life.
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