Do any of us really understand the consequences of porn. The Bible says that the wages of sin is death. But since I did not die, what does it mean? Did something partially die as a result? A relationship, or my ability to be a good parent, or my finances, or my ability to spread the Gospel, or my relationship with the Holy Spirit? People say, "I am giving up porn." But the truth is - we are either giving up porn and choosing to keep things from the above list. Or, we are choosing porn and letting the things (write your own list) on our list partially die. Something always dies or partially dies with P. Since I don't understand the consequences, from now on I am going to say 10 times each day, "The wages of porn is death." Today I am choosing life, light and Jesus.
P and lust will rob us of everything, if we let them. P and lust destroy our ability to connect intimately with others, both romantically and as friends. They isolate us from community, convincing us to remain alone in the dark. We lead a double life when we pursue P on one side of the door and appear to have it all together on the other side of it. We lead lives of duplicity and deception. Every words out of our mouths becomes a lie as we try to maintain both lives without ever letting them come into contact. And P can never satisfy: The more we buy into its lies, the less satisfied we are, and the more we must escalate to get that same little thrill. We will become monstrous even in our own eyes as we pursue lust where it ultimately must lead us. We become shadows of ourselves until all that remains is the hunger which can never be satisfied. It is truly hell! But we can break free, right now, today. We can walk away and never go back. We are free in Christ to choose differently. We *can* choose his way instead of our own. We *can* embrace his identity for us, and trade in our tired, broken self-perception for it. In his strength, we *can* prevail -- one day at a time and one thought at a time. May God bless us as we pursue the Son and turn our backs on lust and sin and death once and for all!
When St. Paul wrote the wages of sin are death, he was speaking about our life after this world. That is, eternity. When we choose to sin and we are fully aware that we are choosing to disobey God's law, we are rejecting Christ. This is the ultimate sin. Although, He stands by patiently, waiting to help us at any moment in our lives, if we reject Him constantly and for long enough, our pride and our shame may prevent us from accepting His divine mercy and love. In this way, we separate ourselves from the only being we can always count on. That is a choice for an eternal pit of loneliness without hope of escape. The good news is that while we are alive on this earth, no matter how deep and great our sins, we can always choose to accept the Lord's offer of forgiveness, mercy and incredible love. Christ came to call sinners, so that we may all spend eternity alive and completely happy in the presence of God.
You do not fully recognize all of the consequences until you quit PMO. The most important of which is a broken relationship with your savior. Because of that broken relationship you will be delayed in finding and fulfilling your God given purpose. You will not be living the most fulfilling life possible. PMO completely derailed my life for decades.
Love it. We can only find true joy when we fulfill our purpose. We struggle mightily to fulfill it if we continue in sin. But if we fight to do what Jesus wants us to do - we can find purpose and fulness of joy. Psalms 1 says "Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. 2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. 3 And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. Today, I reject the pleasure that destroys. Today, I will fight temptation with all I have and choose the pleasure this chapter offers.
I decided to write about what Jesus said about obedience. Matthew 7 may be the most important chapter in the Bible for most people. I copied a bit from the New International Readers version: 21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven. Only those who do what my Father in heaven wants will enter. 22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord! Lord! Didn’t we prophesy in your name? Didn’t we drive out demons in your name? Didn’t we do many miracles in your name?’ 23 Then I will tell them clearly, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who do evil!’ Many focus on the last sentence. It is scary, so let's try another version. New King James Version: “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ This is tough, but don't panic. Instead, commit a block of time to work on addiction every day. Then consider having a block of time to work on spiritual growth. Then consider upping your commitment by focusing more on scripture and prayer throughout the day. Lastly, Jesus knows your heart. Jesus will help you change. You can change.
P kills our joy. If we give in for a day, our joy will be hugely diminished for a week. It may even be hugely diminished for a month or a year. It is wise to be aware of this fact every day of the year. When we live like John 15 says we will have more and more joy. This chapter talks about bearing fruit as Christians. This is a great goal. But first, we need verse 10. 10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.” People grow weary of Bible study, prayer, and memorization, but not me. Why? Because I have already experienced the joy of living the way John 15 says to live. I know that I can increase that joy even more. Because I have tasted that joy I will not be fooled by satan's invitation to a day of his pleasures. I know the full consequences of that day. Yes, the 18-year-old P addict whose dream girlfriend dumped him knows some consequences. But often he is totally unaware that satan was sucking his joy out of him at every turn as well. He is unaware that he has lost his ability to enjoy the simple things in life. He can't even relax and do normal things. He has to be on sin's crazy train to even get by. Consider praying: “Father, show me the full consequences.” Secondly, John 15 says to obey, love, and bear fruit. Consider praying: “Father, show me the consequences of living life exactly like John 15 says.” Yes, verse 11 already answered that. But we need to be reminded a million times.
Randy Alcorn published his list of the consequences of lust: "Grieving my Lord; displeasing the One whose opinion most matters. Dragging into the mud Christ's sacred reputation. Having to one day look Jesus in the face at the judgment seat and account for why I did it. Forcing God to discipline me in various ways. Suffering of innocent people around me who would get hit by the shrapnel of my sin. Hurt to and loss of credibility with my children, _____________and _____________ If my blindness should continue or my family be unable to forgive, I could lose my wife and my children forever. Shame to my church family. Shame and hurt to my friends, and especially those I've led to Christ and discipled. Guilt that would be awfully hard to shake. Loss of self-respect, discrediting my own name, and invoking shame and lifelong embarrassment upon myself. Plaguing memories and flashbacks that could taint future intimacy with my wife. Disqualifying myself after having preached to others. Forfeiting forever certain opportunities to serve God." For me, lust kept me empty, dark, and depressed. It also held me back from fulfilling my purpose. Today, consider writing out a list of your consequences of lust.
Cutting ourselves out of the opportunity for true joy, peace and salvation. From the Song " Follow Me" "I do not offer comfort, I do not offer wealth but in Me all happiness is found".
We either fight addiction with power or without it. When we study key verses, power enters our lives. When we declare war on sin, power enters our lives. When we strain to pray all the time, power enters our lives. Daily Bible reading adds power, and praising the Lord adds power. Praying to be filled with the Spirit adds power. Praying to find our purpose adds power. Second, believe the Bible as written. You can deeply trust the literal versions: NKJV, NIV, NASV, ESV. If a verse does not make sense to you, read it every day until it does. God loves to see a person wrestling to understand and obey scripture. Doing so adds power. Third, can we quit sinning? The answer is both yes and no. We can go to war with specific sins and start to cut them out. At some point, we will cut certain sins out if we fight enough. We all know people who drank too much but then quit drinking (The sin of drunkenness). They quit their most problematic sin, and you can quit your most problematic sin as well. Fourth, we can cut out specific sins, but some sin will be missed. My brother knew some guy who said, “I don't sin anymore.” Obviously, his pride is ruining his message. If he said, “I always go to war with sin, and I am starting to see its grip on me fading.” That is saying it in a way more people would believe, and even try to copy. Fifth, almost all of the techniques I recommended make our bad desires decrease, and that allows the Holy Spirit to increase “in us.” “He” does not sin. If we actually die to ourselves as the Bible tells us to... “He” would steer us on a sinless course for as long as we allow Him to do so. I am always, no, often, trying to do that. I should always try to do that. But no man will ever be perfect in doing that. But trying to improve, is the smartest thing we can do. Finally, dying to self is the key to joy. The more we work on it, the more we will get that very destructive sin out of our lives.
