August 23
Overcoming Immorality, Pornography, and Lust – Part XV – Critical Transformations
“And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” (Romans 12:2)
If someone is struggling with habits of immoral behavior, lust, viewing pornography, and the like, a number of critical transformations must take place before that person will enjoy freedom from these sins. Here are some of the transformations I can think of:
| FROM Conformed to the World | TO Transformed in Christ |
| 1. Viewing evil as unregenerate man views it: acceptable, healthy, exciting | 1. Viewing evil as God views it: sin, a perversion, repulsive, abhorrent |
| 2. Loving and pursuing immoral thoughts, lusts, and behaviors | 2. Hating and detesting immoral thoughts, lusts, and behaviors |
| 3. Not caring about the eternal damnation of the souls that participate in evil deeds. | 3. Caring deeply about the eternal damna-tion of souls that participate in immorality. |
| 4. Immersed in deceptive fantasies, chasing after that which is empty, play acting, enslaving, temporal, and not real | 4. Immersed in the Word of God and chasing after the things above, pursuing the only truly real and eternal things |
| 5. Consumed fleshly stimulation, pleasing ourselves, and the passing pleasures of sin | 5. Consumed with the pleasing God and the eternal rewards of obedience |
| 6. Seeking out fellowship with demons | 6. Seeking out fellowship with God |
| 7. Thinking little of purity, holiness, righteousness, self-control, even taking for granted the salvation that Christ brings to us; behaving unworthy of His grace to us. | 7. Highly valuing purity, holiness, self-control, and sanctification; appreciating immensely the salvation Christ has given us and determining to walk worthy of it. |
| 8. Doing what I want, fulfilling my wishes, doing what pleases me, being my own boss. “I am captain of my own destiny.” | 8. Pursuing complete obedience to Christ, taking up cross daily, denying self to please God. “I am a bond-slave of Christ.” |
| 9. Love of self; putting self first; loving and nurturing self | 9. Love of God and others; putting God and others first; hating self |
| 10. Living in the old self, the flesh, ignorant, callous, corrupted, deceived, given over to sensuality, unconcerned about the consequences of sin | 10. Putting on the new self, renewed in the spirit of the mind, given over to holiness and truth, very concerned about others and losses and negative effects of sin |
| 11. Instrument of unrighteousness; joined to immoral persons; indulging bodily lusts; dishonoring God in your body | 11. Instrument of righteousness; Temple of the Holy Spirit; glorifying God in your body |
| 12. Thinking lightly of the Holy Spirit within us and caring little when we grieve Him; allowing ourselves to be consumed with fleshly lusts, drunkenness, and other destructive dissipations. | 12. Being immensely grateful for the presence and fellowship of the Holy Spirit within us; not wanting to do anything to grieve Him; being continually filled with the Holy Spirit. |
Some of the transformations on the list overlap and are some degree related or even redundant to others, but each one has a particular emphasis that I think is worth highlighting. Perhaps you can add to this list of transformations that are needed for you; I do not consider it an exhaustive list. But if any of the things in the left hand column are characteristic of you, then I predict that you will continue to struggle with temptations of fleshly immorality of one kind or another and never fully gain the victory. Our desperate need, whether or not we are caught in immoral sins of the flesh, is to have God accomplish these transformations in us. Only He can do it. In the next few days we will speak more of how to begin to facilitate these transformations in our lives.