Overcome Porn: The 40 Day ChallengeНамуна

For Christians, the ultimate goal is not quitting pornography, but to be remade by God Himself into the image of Jesus Christ. Galatians 5 talks about this process as “walking in the Spirit.” What does it mean to keep in step with the Spirit of God and walk in the Spirit?

1. Walk in accountability. Keeping in step with the Spirit of God is a community activity. James tells us to confess our sins to one another (James 5:16). This is called accountability: being honest with another trusted believer about our temptations, sins, and the state of our heart.

2. Walk according to the Word. To keep in step with the Spirit, we must know and obey the book he inspired. Porn hooks us deeply, leading to possible addiction and sexual bondage. But God redeems our warped sex drive so that sex is a holy act of love and giving, not selfishness and slavery (1 Cor. 13:4-7; Gal. 5:22-23). The more we engage with the Bible, the more our minds will be rewired to see things, including sex, the way God does.

3. Walk in pure pleasure. If we only spend time trying to empty ourselves of the desire for pornography, we will inevitably fail or make ourselves miserable. The Holy Spirit longs for all things that God calls good. His word is full of good things that can become windows of worship when they are infused with gratitude (1 Tim. 4:4).

4. Walk in your true identity. Adopted children already know and believe they are loved.  We need to learn to relate to God as dearly loved adopted sons and daughters, believing that we belong to God and that our ties to sin are broken forever (Eph. 1:5).

5. Walk in hope. Our great hope is that one day Christ will return and make all things right again (Acts 17:31). God also promises that we will see foretastes of this “hope of righteousness” in the present age (Rom. 14:17).

This is our astounding hope: that fallen, porn-loving sinners like us will become like the holy Son of God.

Reflection

• Have you seen the Holy Spirit working to transform you as you’ve been walking through the recovery process?
• Which aspect of walking in the Spirit sticks out to you? How can you grow in that area?