Finding Your Fighters: How to Strategically Find Community During Porn AddictionНамуна

What does the Bible say about community?

The Bible is filled with themes of love, unity, intimacy, fellowship, connection, and discipleship. The theme of Christian community begins in the garden and does not stop throughout the entire Bible. Instead of listing out the hundreds of verses in scripture that talk about community, we want to look at a single verse:

”Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children." (Ephesians 5:1, ESV)

We are called to be imitators of God. We have been created in the image of God, and guess what: He is a communal God. There is perfect unity between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. There was perfect unity between God and humans until the fall. Because of His grace and mercy and love for us, He sent His Son Jesus to - you guessed it - restore unity.

It’s impossible to imitate our triune God by trying to live on our own. That completely goes against God’s nature. He instilled in us His communal attribute. If this is a God-given attribute, then why does confession, accountability, and community seem so hard sometimes?

Because the enemy and our flesh do not want us to imitate our Holy, triune God. Satan knows we’re so much stronger living with and helping one another than we are isolated from our community. Community is vital to our healing from pornography because it is vital to our faith walks. Jesus Himself had His own group of fighters. He didn’t walk alone. He had a group of disciples who He intentionally taught and with whom he prayed, rested, communed, grieved, and rejoiced. This is the type of community the Bible encourages us to create: a safe, encouraging, and challenging space where we can pray, rest, commune, grieve, and rejoice.

• Where do you engage with community the most?
• How does this community impact your view of Christ? Porn? Yourself?
• Describe one positive experience when someone was there for you when you needed them.