Jesus Is More Pleasurable Than Pornography
Note From Lyn: I really appreciate this gentleman’s honesty and what he says. Pornography is a big problem today; not only among men, but women too, believe it or not! I heard in the news recently that more and more women, particularly young teenaged girls, were having problems with pornography. In fact, according to statistics, the number of girls addicted to pornography outnumbers the men! Can you believe that? Anyhow, I hope this man’s article blesses someone who might have this addiction. Some men have it more than others, it depends upon the man and the relationship with Christ as well.
by Matt Moore
Temptation sucks. It can be hard to resist, tiresome to endure, and when succumbed to, the guilt of our failure weighs heavily on us. I hate temptation…. absolutely loathe it. But my hatred of it has not caused it to disappear. Whether I like it or not, temptation is a reality that all of us are going to have to deal with as we live out the remainder of our time in a fallen, sinful world. Avoiding the reality of (and consequently not preparing for) temptation is like being distracted and unknowingly stumbling upon the front lines of battle…. it’s just stupid— and self-destructive.
I deal with the temptation to watch pornography every day. I don’t think about it constantly, but nonetheless, there is a moment in time at some point during each day where everything in my body wants to tune out the Spirit’s leading and go sit in front of the computer screen like a zombie and enjoy myself. Logically speaking, I know the foolishness of doing such a thing. I know that I’ll enjoy it, momentarily……..and then get smacked with a crashing avalanche of guilt and confusion as soon as I shut my laptop. It ends the same way every time I give in—with me confused, doubtful, fearful and depressed…. and it takes a lot of time (and a lot of grace) to get out from under all of that. Logically, I know it’s not worth it. But I still find myself wanting it… badly.
I crave pleasure—-we all crave pleasure. It’s a desire engrained in our natures, and contrary to some religious doctrine, it’s not a bad thing. Now, how we go about finding pleasure can most definitely be bad thing… that’s what sin is. If you think about it, every sin has its root in us trying to fulfill some desire or searching for some pleasure. We go wrong in the avenues we travel to find it. We indulge, pervert and idolize so many things (food, sex, money, materials, success, comfort, beauty)…. and we do so in an attempt to achieve the satisfaction our souls crave. We want to enjoy life, and the things it has to offer—-but most times we reject the One who gives Life, and all the things He has to offer.
The longing for pleasure I’m experiencing inside of me, because of my brokenness, many times manifests at the surface in intense and perverted, sexual desires. Because of my years of porn addiction before being converted, my mind and body know that a type of pleasure comes through the avenue of pornography, so my default (sinful) nature and mind pretty much automatically turn on to those things when I’m feeling less than full. But thank God for the Holy Spirit. Seriously! Without the Holy Spirit indwelling me, I can do nothing but what my default nature knows to do…. sin. In my fallen flesh, I know nothing but the pleasures found in forbidden places. You see, this is our way out of temptation…. the indwelling Spirit of God. He is always with us, witnessing the truth to us.. leading us out of filth and into holiness and purity.. filling our hearts with the love of God. He is our way out—listening to and following Him is our way out of every evil enticement.
I believe fully, because He has been sent to glorify Christ, that as I’m drawn to my sinful vice the Spirit of God whispers to my soul, “Jesus is more pleasurable than pornography.”
I’ve had the impression of this glorious thought pressed on my heart many times in recent months. Jesus is more pleasurable than pornography. (You can fill that blank with any sin). It’s hard for me to really believe that thought in the moment of temptation… because after all, pornography is right here… and I can’t even see Jesus. How can I gain immediate pleasure through Him if I can’t even immediately see or talk to Him like I could another human being? There’s probably a lot of different biblical answers to that question…. first and foremost the reality that Jesus is inside of us. I don’t know what that looks like, or how it’s possible….but it has to be true. My life, and the radical change I see in it, could not be possible if that fact were not true.
Jesus promised at the end of the gospel of Matthew that He would be with His people always. In the gospel of John, He promised that He would not leave us as orphans. He said that He would send the Helper to us… the Holy Spirit. Paul says in Romans that the love of God has been poured into our hearts through the Spirit of Christ. Colossians says that our lives are hidden in Christ…. how much more intimate can it get than that? I’ll be the first to admit that it is hard for me to believe these things most of the time—it’s hard for me to picture such a thing with my mind….. but could my lack of trust in these truths be the cause of my weakness when it comes to battling temptation? I believe that’s exactly the case.
We must believe that Jesus Christ is inside of us—we must really believe that, in the deepest parts of our hearts and minds. If we’re genuinely born-again, this is a reality whether we fully acknowledge it or not—but we can’t expect to thrive in all the benefits of Christ living in us if most of the time, through unbelief, we ignore His presence. I think we must believe, deeply believe, that Jesus is in us… we must meditate on that constantly and devotionally.
And we must believe that Jesus is all pleasurable and all satisfying. Not just in the words we speak…. but within the fibers of our hearts we must know that He is the ultimate source of pleasure. Jesus is more beautiful and captivating than anything in this world—good or bad— whether we believe it or not. But again, we can’t expect to walk in the immediate benefits of Jesus being all pleasurable if, through unbelief, we ignore His captivating essence and beauty. We must strive to see Him as glorious as He says that He is.
We must believe the Scriptures, and the promises they contain, to be the truth. The absolute truth. No negotiating. We must believe… latch onto, grasp hold of, clench our fists around….the reality of the all-satisfying God of the universe living inside of us. Everything we need to live this life as our Father has commanded us to lies in us taking hold of what He’s given us…. Himself. He is the fountain of living water, the bread of Life—-He is the sustenance. He is everything. Even if we can’t grasp it with our thinking, in Him exists pleasures and joy beyond what we even think we want.
You may ask, “That sounds great, but how do I do that? How do I get that? How do I experience God like that?”— I frustratingly ask myself the same thing a lot of times. But the truth, and blessing, is that we don’t have to do it… God will do it. The Holy Spirit in us will produce this belief, trust and confidence in Jesus. The Holy Spirit will pour the love of God into our hearts. The Holy Spirit will make Jesus more real to us. We’ve just got to stop….be still…. get in front of the God-breathed Words we’ve been given…. and pray.
“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.”- Matthew 7:7-8
Just some thoughts floating around in my head tonight.
Chris,
I spent six years in Alanon and Adult Children Of Alcoholics recovery groups. That’s what they taught. But I was a Christian in those groups, and I must admit that you, and God’s word are both right. I have been regarding myself as gradually achieving victory over this attraction to pornography. But you are right (and I guess in my heart I knew that from God’s word all the time but was being deceived to believe my victory over it would be gradual. Thank you for sharing God’s truth with me, He is transforming my mind as we speak to tell myself I already have the victory. Thank God for you. I love you in Christ, Chris and I am looking forward to our live chat on Facebook this afternoon. Oh, BTW, please do not ever hesitate to share truth with me. If you hear me speaking or, God forbid) writing questionable doctrine or principles that don’t line up with God’s word, please don’t hesitate to call me out (I know I don’t even have to ask you to do that, because I know from your heart and from our chats, you think too much of me to ever NOT call me out). Thank you, talk to you soon.
Same here. We must always weigh things out against God’s word. I am learning every day as well, and you also have been teaching me things..just so you know
God bless you! It wasn’t so much as to just correct you, but you need to know that you do have victory over all sin, strongholds, and stumbling blocks, not of yourself, but through the blood of Jesus. I know what AA teaches, and although they proclaim a “higher” power and “God” it is very liberal and not the same God because to say “higher power” as they do now is a politically correct way of speaking, and they aren’t really proclaiming the God we serve..they say, “Whatever God is to you…” and have more of a new age belief on God…self. They claim a passage of bondage, “Hi, I am so and so, and I AM AN ALCOHOLIC..” That is denying God’s truth and power…for we are to speak faith and healing through His redeeming blood! Instead, “Hi, I am So and So, and I am a victor and a concqueror through Jesus Christ, King of Kings, and Lord of Lord’s!”
Romans 8, (read this out loud every time you fall into temptation) “In the name of Jesus, you nasty unclean spirit of lust, I command you to get away from me at once! For it is written, ’8 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you[a] free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh,[b] God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering.[c] And so he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
5 Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. 6 The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. 7 The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. 8 Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.
9 You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. 10 But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life[d] because of righteousness. 11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of[e] his Spirit who lives in you.
12 Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. 13 For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.
14 For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. 15 The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship.[f] And by him we cry, “Abba,[g] Father.” 16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. 17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.
Present Suffering and Future Glory
18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. 19 For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that[h] the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.
22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? 25 But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.
26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.
28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who[i] have been called according to his purpose. 29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 30 And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
More Than Conquerors
31 What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34 Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written:
“For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”[j]
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,[k] neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
I know that is a mouthful; however, the Word of God is our weapon! Take your weapon God has gave you in your hands and speak it! Run, just like Joseph ran from potiphar’s wife, so are you to RUN from temptation. Flee it! Resist the devil and he will FLEE from you! For to lust after a woman is to commit adultery in your heart! “But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” Matthew 5:28
Furthermore, Revelation 21–”And He said to me, “It is done![c] I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts. 7 He who overcomes shall inherit all things,[d] and I will be his God and he shall be My son. 8 But the cowardly, unbelieving,[e] abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”
Do not ever allow the devil to have his way with you! I love you! And men have it very, very hard these days. Be holy, for He is Holy! Go forth today, tomorro, and always armed and ready for battle, for you are more than a concqueror through Christ Jesus my dear brother! Amen!
Lyn,
I’m so glad you posted this. My story is similar to Matt’s. The Holy Spirit, after many years of addiction, is removing my temptation and replacing it with Himself. Another thing the Holy Spirit is doing is giving me opportunities to share my faith more and giving me opportunities to serve Him in ministry. I’ll always be an addict, but the Holy Spirit is teaching me ways to manage it. I’d like to get in touch with this guy and share with him. Part of the problem for men addicted to pornography is that they think they’re alone and if they talk to someone about it they will lose friends. This is particularly true in many “Christian” churches that are more judgmental than accepting. More exclusionary than welcoming. This guy and I could become accountability partners. We need good accountability partners much more than we need “recovery groups” or “church counselors”. Thanks again for posting. You’re the best. Love you my sister in Christ,
Steve
Oh Steve, I must point out one thing here, and you may disagree..and it is okay if we do
Because in Christ, we love each other so, so much! You will not always be an addict, because the Word of God tells us that through the blood of Jesus, we are delivered from what plagues the world. Temptation in this world will “ALWAYS” be present for us as long as we live in a body of flesh. So just because you have temptation does not make you an addict… even if you mess up from time to time, does not make you an addict.
If you repent and turn away from it, and allow Jesus Christ to dwell in you richly, you will overcome. 1 John 4:4 tells us, “4 You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.” I feel led to tell you that. For any of us ever to say, after being saved, that we are still in bondage makes the word of God a lie. We were led out of Egypt…God never wanted us to wander in the wilderness; yes, He promises to lead us to the land of milk and honey my brother! He has promised you freedom.
Hold on to the promise, Isaiah 53:5, 5 But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.
And, 2 Corinthians 10:4, “We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments.”
So go forth, each and every day, claiming victory! Never, ever speak or believe that you are always going to be in bondage to anything…because it is through Christ we have the victory! You must be strong to remove any obstacles out of your way and daily crucify that corruptible body of flesh my brother! God bless you!!!! I love you in Christ!