HEY MIKE! I can’t stop swearing and thinking about sex. There are so many movies and bands that promote this stuff it’s hard not to get influenced. Any ideas on what I should do?
—B.T., Novi, Mich.
You’re right, B.T. Movies, music, even certain friendships can bring us down — or build us up. The key is to plug into the right stuff.
Here’s what you can do.
Guard your eyes and ears. You know how we guys are. It doesn’t take much to get our motors running in the lust department. We can be in biology lab and see two fruit flies mating, and — ZAP — we’re in the mood for romance! The fact that you have sex on the brain isn’t wrong: God gave you those sexual desires. It’s how you deal with them that matters.
Unplug the pressure. With every movie you see or tune you hear, ask yourself some questions, “Is this going to race my motor into overdrive? Is it gonna cloud my mind with a bunch of four-letter words?” Next, take action. If the stuff bombarding you is impure, then punch “off” on your VCR or change the channel on your radio.
Plug into purity. God makes it clear how He wants us to live. Ephesians 4:29 says, “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up.” Several verses later, we read: “But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity” (Ephesians 5:3).
Sever bad ties — before you get tied up. When God says one thing in the Bible, yet the movies, music or your friends say another, then you must follow God — and leave the other. It’s a hard choice, but one Christians sometimes have to make. 
