We often forget love because we are obsessed with pleasure. In full addiction, our love/pleasure ratio is a low 1-5 rating. Our example Jesus Christ was always a perfect 100 rating. To understand this ratio lets assume that our life is a house with 7 rooms. Jonny just started trying to quit. He has a small room where he reads a chapter in his Bible daily. A small room where he prays daily, and a big room where he is now determined to find cleaner pleasure. He also has a small room where he fights lust daily at NoFap. Let's give him a love/pleasure ratio of 19. He is trying, but he has a lot of empty rooms... Billy is determined to quit. He has a medium-sized room where he reads a chapter in the New and a chapter in the Old Testament in the Bible daily. He also has a small room where he sometimes goes to the verses for quitting when tempted. He has a medium room where he tries to have a block of prayer every day. He also has a medium room where he sometimes studies love often. He also has a medium room where he always goes to church. Let's give him a love/pleasure ratio of 40. Lots of good stuff, but something will fill those empty rooms. Oscar is obsessed with quitting. He has a large sized room where he reads a chapter in the New and a chapter in the Old Testatment in the Bible daily. He also has a room where he meditates daily on key verses. He also has a large room where he always goes to the verses for quitting when tempted. He has a large room where he always has a block of prayer every day. He also has a large room where he studies love daily. He also has a large room where he always goes to church every time it is open. He also has a large room where he is obsessed with finding his purpose. With this limited information we could give him a love/pleasure ratio of anywhere between 62 and 84. He has no empty rooms for satan to sneak into. He is very busy thinking about a lot of other good things. Finally, when we have a have a high love/pleasure ratio we will also have a high amount of pleasure. With no destruction added.
Psalm 34 1 I will extol the Lord at all times; his praise will always be on my lips.” Consider focusing daily on always giving the Lord praise. Praise was one reason why God favored David, and praise increases God's love in us. 5 “Those who look to him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame.” Sinful pleasure = darkness and depression. Being radiant is better. 7 The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them. 8 Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him. 9 Fear the Lord, you his holy people, for those who fear him lack nothing." Sinful pleasure starts to and eventually drains everything from us. Lacking nothing is better. 14 Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it. Finally, we end with what to do. We should make it a habit to turn from lust. But if we skip the next command: “To do good,” it will be twice as hard to turn from evil. Consider praying: “Father, show me how to “do good.” Teach me Your ways.” To do good: #1 Be willing to do good. #2 Be prepared through Bible study and prayer to do good. #3 Make it a habit to be available today (and every day) to do good. #4 Pray to be filled with love so that you can do good effectively. #5 Study these 5 traits that Psalm 34 says to have. They will prepare you to do good and to have a great life.
We could also look at a purpose/pleasure ratio. Jonny helps out the youth at church one day a week. He completely forgets purpose the other 6 days. Let's give him a purpose ratio of 32. Billy helps out at the church twice a week. He also remembers to help others a couple of times per week. Let's give him a purpose ratio of 57. Oscar helps out at the church constantly. Every day he is praying and thinking about purpose. Every day he is trying to do what God wants him to do. He is constantly helping others. Constantly telling others about Jesus. Let's give him a purpose/pleasure ratio of 82. In these examples, just like with the love/pleasure ratio, the more we dig into purpose, the easier it will be to fight temptation. With 100% purpose, (Jesus), temptation is shrugged off with quoting scripture. With 80% purpose, temptation is fairly controlled, because, now there is such an increase in joy, love, and blessing, that you just don't want to lose those things. Second, when we have a huge focus on purpose, pleasure is highly increased. The more we fulfill our purpose, the more pleasure we will have. Granted, it is not the pleasure a person who is currently struggling wants... Instead, it is the perfect long-term pleasure that comes directly from Almighty God. Upping your purpose/pleasure ratio is a top-five way to quit. Consider working on it every day.
