May 28
“For this you know with certainty, than no immoral or impure person or covetous man, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.” (Ephesians 5:5-6)
As I mentioned in the Overcoming Temptation booklet, we often sin because we have a glamorized view of sin in our minds, and we do not see it for the repulsive behavior that it really is. We view sin the way Satan wants us to view it, and we see it through the eyes of worldly people who have no hope in Christ. From this view it is attractive, it is enjoyable, it does not have serious consequences (if any), and it is even good. We can justify our need for it and the benefits it will bring to us. We may even convince ourselves that God does not see anything wrong with it and is even providing it for us!
Let’s take pornography as an example. This is evil to its core, it is perversion, it causes us to commit adultery in our hearts, it numbs and pollutes our minds, it puts our old nature in control of our minds and our bodies, it quenches our love for God, it sets up idols in our hearts, it glamorizes and exalts the things that God abhors and detests and forbids, it breaks down our resistance to evil, it affects us physically, mentally, and spiritually, it results in loss of relationships and disunity, it causes us to become more open to immorality, it causes us to think immoral thoughts over and over again, it causes us to think detestable thoughts about others, it destroys our purity, it ruins our innocence, it spoils a clear conscience before the Lord, it humiliates us before God and man, it reduces us to an animal that is controlled by base instincts, it is full of demonic activity, it burns ideas and sinful behaviors deep into our minds and memories, it steals our hearts from God, and I could go on and on about its evils.
But how many of those of us who have looked at pornography become numb to these things, have a lower threshold of what we think is deviant behavior, have a higher tolerance for these things, and even fantasize about these detestable things? How many of those who have viewed pornography have the hatred they might have had for immorality before viewing it? How many of us have used pornography as an escape or to ease the pain of loneliness or abandonment? How many of us are so deceived that we even imagine that God somehow approves of this or has given this to us to meet our unmet physical desires? Do you see how deceptive sin can be, how disarming evil can be?
One of the ways to combat the effects of developing a tolerance for evil as we are exposed to it is to replace the images and thoughts of it with something closer to reality. In the case of pornography, how about imagining these people dead, in the grave, with maggots crawling throughout their bodies or dry dust and bones? How exciting is that image? Or how about imagining these people burning in hell? How much of a thrill is that? Or how about imagining them very old, decrepit, sick, diseased, thin, with shriveled skin and bones showing through? How appealing are these images? Are these unrealistic images? I say not! I would say these are more realistic images of reality than the images you are viewing. These kinds of images represent the fate of the unbeliever, they represent what will actually happen to the flesh eventually, they represent the end of sin and death and disobedience to Christ. These repulsive images are the real deal, and it behooves us to view things from a realistic viewpoint, and not the fantasy that Satan has created to deceive us and get us to sin and to be more concerned with the things of the flesh than the things of the Spirit.