Daily Devotional for Sunday January 12, 2003

Why Pornography is a Sin

(Psalms 119:37)

Why pornography is a sin. Pornography is a problem many men, AND women have battled for a long time. With the advent of the Internet, it has made accessibility to pornography incredibly easy, and has now become a very real societal problem. As with all problems in society, many Christians also end up caught in the traps the enemy has laid to destroy people's lives. Let me say up front, DO NOT underestimate the destructive power of pornography. Like all sin, it starts almost innocently, but always escalates. One day you are browsing through X-rated pictures, and the next you are actually involved in a real physical relationship. One day you are chatting with someone, the next your chat becomes more graphic, and then you are actually sitting next to them. Like all sin, there is a seductiveness that eases you into it, and one day you wake up and you are in total bondage to that sin.

The reason pornography is a sin is because God's plan for sex ONLY for marriage, and with your spouse. Our sexual thoughts are to be only about that person God gives us to share our life with. ALL other thoughts are impure. Fantasies take our mind to places they shouldn't be going. Even if we never act on them. Jesus said, if you lust in your heart, you have already committed the sin. Is that a high standard? Yes! But God has called us to live at a high level in our life. We are to live above the low standards of this world. We are to find our sexual satisfaction in the mate God gives us to share our life with. That means very simply this. First of all, if you are NOT married, you need to keep your thoughts pure and save not only your body, but your MIND for the one God has for your life. If you are married, your sexual thoughts and activities are to be ONLY with your husband or wife. Anything else is not God's plan and is sin.

Now that we know what God expects, let's talk about real life. Read, and re-read the second paragraph. There is to be NO compromise. This is what God expects from us. Now, how do we get to that point. The best case is you are still young, have not been exposed to pornography, you have the warning of this message to guard yourself against it. For those who have been exposed in the past to pornography, the key is to "renew your mind" and flush it out. We do that each day using the spiritual detergent of God's Word. Stay away from, and guard your thought life. Of course, there are those who are currently involved in pornography at some level. It is bondage. Before you can get victory over it, you have to want to quit. Once you get to that point, you must realize it is a battle. Like any battle, to see victory you need a battleplan. You need one or several people in your life to be accountable to. You need the strength each day only the Lord can give you. There is victory over pornography just like any other sin, if you really WANT victory.

***IT IS NO COINCIDENCE THAT YOU ARE READING THESE WORDS TODAY. SATAN WANTS TO DESTROY YOUR LIFE. GOD IS SPEAKING TO YOU NOW TO DEAL WITH THIS ISSUE BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE. IF YOU DON'T, IT WILL DESTROY YOUR RELATIONSHIPS, IT WILL RUIN YOUR FUTURE, AND IT CAN LITERALLY KILL YOU. DEAL WITH IT NOW!!!

I love you and will be praying for you. I realize this is hitting home with many of you. Let it be a special tap on the shoulder from God that NOW is the time to deal with this issue in your file. It isn't going to change until you decide to change. As you know, any time we pervert the original plan of God, things never really work. We always get cheated out of the best God has for us when we settle for what the world offers. You can only know the true blessings of God, the fullness of what life can give, when we are in His will, living life His way.

Since this is such an incredible problem so many face, next Friday, I will be spending several hours praying for those in this bondage to pornography. God is in the deliverance business, and I know that He can deliver you from the bondage of pornography. I will be praying for those people fighting this sin in their life and believing God to touch their heart, bring them under conviction, and help them to have the courage to take the steps necessary to walk away from this sin and live a victorious life. He is able, and can set you free. God is STILL in the deliverance business!!!

In His love and service, Your friend and brother in Christ, Bill Keller