At the age of 5 or 6, my son thought it made sense to draw a racetrack for his cars on the hardwood floors of our rental home, . . . with a black permanent marker!
When confronted, he said he was as shocked as me and didn’t know who had done it. After about 20 seconds he relented in tears and shame. We cleaned it up together . . . with fingernail polish remover, thank you Google.
What we do when confronted with our mistakes is of utmost importance in journeying toward a life free of pornography & lust (and it says more about who we believe God is than who we are). In looking at a well-known story in John, we have 3 options. I’ll summarize.
During a large feast, scribes and pharisees (they’re the bad guys) bring a woman caught committing adultery to Jesus. They cite the Law from Moses that she should be stoned and asked Jesus what He thought. He didn’t respond at first but simply wrote in the dirt. We don’t know what He wrote; John didn’t include that. Jesus then says that those who don’t have sin can throw the first stone. The bad guys leave. He then asks the woman where her accusers are. She responds that they left, and no one is condemning her. Jesus says that neither does He and to go and sin no more.
Three options when we sin:
- MAN – Run & hide (he’s not even mentioned in the story)
- PHARISEES & SCRIBES – Ignore your own sin & judge others
- WOMAN – Come clean . . . stand & admit your sin
While we all WANT to say that we’d behave like the woman, standing before God and admitting our sin, it’s easy to want to run & hide, especially with the private nature of the sin of pornography & lust.
But when we come clean & are honest with God about our sin, we see that He doesn’t crush us (Jesus took that punishment for us), although He does tell us to stop.
To live a life free of pornography & lust, you must . . .
wait for it . . .
STOP with the pornography & lust!!
I know . . . it’s not that simple, that’s why this is a multi-faceted approach (more on that later).
But you can’t escape the fact that there will be times you simply have to resist.
It’s that straight forward.
There are several techniques for doing such, and we’ll get to those.
But for now, get into the habit of coming clean & admitting your sin before God.
Thoughts to Journal:
- Of the three options, which is your default?
- How often do you ‘stand and admit’? How do you feel afterward?
- What are some techniques for resisting pornography & lust that have worked for you? (it’s okay if the answer to this is none . . . like I said, we’ll get to those)
Reading: