Pornography is all over the Internet. Even when people aren’t looking
for porn, they can still encounter it unexpectedly because it’s so
prevalent online. Many people in our culture give into porn’s
temptations and experience pain as a result, and Christians aren’t
immune to the problem. In fact, statistics show that about one in three
Christians – men and women alike – reports being addicted to
pornography.
If you’re one of them, you may feel as if you simply can’t give up your porn habit. But you can,
with God’s help, because God’s grace is always greater than your sin.
Here’s how you can click away from Internet porn, for good:
Consider some reasons for giving up porn. You may get
temporary pleasure from porn, but the pleasurable feelings will always
fade. Then you can see the reality of how porn harms your life. Porn
wrecks your view of sex because it presents sex in ways that don’t
reflect how real people make love. Porn wrecks your view of people,
causing you to see them as objects to consume rather than as sisters and
brothers in Christ to love and serve. Porn is a sin against your spouse
if you’re married. Porn enslaves you to an addiction, causing you to
lust after more and more, but never giving you lasting fulfillment. Porn
wastes your time, energy, and money. Porn use supports an industry that
abuses people. Porn weakens your character and your relationship with
God, drawing you deeper and deeper into sin.
Notice what triggers your porn use. Pay attention to
what’s going on in your life when you turn to porn. Are you dealing with
stress, fatigue, boredom, loneliness, rejection, or some other issue?
What does porn seem to provide for you: an escape, a reward, or a way to
feel powerful or loved?
Replace porn’s hollow promises with God’s real promises. Face
the reality that porn is a symptom of unbelief and idolatry, because by
using porn you’re desiring sex more than you want a right relationship
with God. Compare what porn offers to what God offers you. Porn makes
you feel accepted and appreciated, since the people in it appear to do
whatever you want to fulfill your fantasies. But God offers real love
that gives you true acceptance and appreciation – unconditionally and
for free. Porn seems to provide a safe alternative to intimacy, with
people showing you what’s normally private. But God will bless you with
real, loving relationships when you take the risks necessary to develop
them. Porn may give you a temporary sense of refuge. But God alone can
give you the lasting peace you need. Porn promises to reward you but
disappoints when pleasurable feelings go away. God, however, is the
source of all joy. Porn may make you think you’re getting revenge on
someone for not giving you the sex you want. But God wants to free you
from being enslaved to a desire for sex and help you find something
greater: the joy of knowing Him. Choose to embrace God’s true promises
instead of porn’s false promises.
Confess and repent. Confess the sin of your porn use
to God, and repent from it by turning away from a focus on yourself and
toward a focus on worshiping God. Realize that by doing so, you’re not
denying yourself pleasure – you’re fighting the temporary pleasure of
porn with the lasting and greater pleasure of a right relationship with
God that will bring you joy.
Replace a vicious cycle with a virtuous cycle. Pray
for God to help you replace your desire for porn with a stronger desire
to be holy. Stop fueling the vicious cycle of porn addiction by refusing
to give into the temptation to use porn, and keep in mind that every
time you resist temptation, you weaken its power over you. Begin a
virtuous cycle of sexual purity by filling your mind with thoughts about
God rather than porn, which you can do by making spiritual disciplines
like Bible reading and prayer a habit.
Cope with your porn triggers in healthier ways. Now
that you’ve already identified what triggers you to turn to porn and
have committed to breaking your porn habit, it’s time to respond to your
porn triggers with other activities that can help you rather than
harming you. If you’ve been using porn when you’re stressed or tired,
arrange your schedule so you can get more sleep and rest. If you’ve been
using porn for a physical release, start to exercise regularly instead.
If you’ve been turning to porn to deal with boredom, add some healthy
adventure to your life, such as by working on a service project,
traveling to a place you’d like to explore, or taking a class to learn a
new skill.
Enlist others to support you and hold you accountable. Meet
regularly with some fellow Christians you trust for support and
accountability while you’re healing from your porn habit and trying to
establish healthy habits. Honestly confess the ways you’ve been
struggling, and set goals to grow closer to God in specific ways.
Look beyond the ugliness of porn to see the beauty of a holy life. Ask
God to give you a vision of what He wants your life to look like, and
use that knowledge to motivate you to resist sin like porn use that can
mess up God’s great plans for you. Read the Bible often to keep God’s
visions of beauty, sex, marriage, and singleness in mind. Remember that
God values inner beauty more than outer beauty, He created sex as a good
way for married couples to unite in covenant love, and singleness is
just as much of a gift from God as marriage because it offers unique
opportunities to grow and serve. Choose to reject the false glory that
porn tempts you with and instead embrace holiness to reflect more of
God’s real glory. Keep in mind that you’re not really what porn may try
to make you think you are – an animal, a pervert, an addict, a victim,
or a fool – but you truly are a beloved person who God made in His
image, who can reflect His glory in the world.
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