Today’s blog is the final post in a three part series on overcoming pornography (see part one and two). In this post, I’d like to talk about the importance of cultivating our inner lives.
1 Peter 1:13 says we are responsible for the way we think. We are to take charge of our minds and focus them on what is right, not wrong: “Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed.” Romans 12:2 says, “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”
How do we renew our minds? By filling them with what’s right and true, especially God’s Word. Psalm 119:11 says “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.” Note this verse says that sin is prevented not simply by restraining the body, but by retraining the heart, from which actions flow.
The battles that are waged every day in our minds and on our computer screens take their spiritual toll. By cultivating our inner lives, we are more likely to experience daily victories.
It’s difficult to delete bad files in our brain’s hard drive, but we can restrict the number of new bad files. Then we can open many good files. This is cause and effect. The more we fill our minds with purity and the less with impurity, the greater our purity and resistance to temptation. We can build our relationship with Christ by praying, reading God’s Word and meditating on it, reading great books, listening to Scripture and audio books and teaching from God’s Word. We need to fill our lives with the best things, those that glorify God. Then when we see how satisfying they are, it will be easier to resist the things that tempt and destroy us. “In your presence is fullness of joy. At your right hand are pleasures forevermore” (Ps. 16:11).
As we eliminate the garbage, and replace it with what honors God, we will find it easier to obey Philippians 4:8: “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”
When we choose to feed our righteous desires and starve our unrighteous ones, by God’s grace we will program our lives for righteousness. We will begin to think and live like the new creatures God has made us in Christ. We can experience victory in the war against pornography.
May we walk in that victory and experience the joy and freedom of purity.
Recommended Resources
Sexual Purity Books for Men
Addictions: A Banquet in the Grave by Ed Welch
False Intimacy: Understanding the Struggle of Sexual Addiction by Harry Schaumburg
Sexual Detox by Tim Challies
Wired for Intimacy: How Pornography Hijacks the Male Brain by William M. Struthers
Sexual Purity Books for Women
No Stones: Women Redeemed from Sexual Addiction by Marnie C. Ferree
Dirty Girls Come Clean by Crystal Renaud
Online Help with Pornography Addictions
Photo by Ryan Riggins on Unsplash
