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CB
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Posted: Mon Sep 29th, 2008 10:54 pm |
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John 8:36 - So if the Son sets you free, you are free indeed.
This is a pretty easy verse to gloss over, but to grasp the power behind it is life-changing. God showed me something in a recent talk with a friend. I've heard and read a lot of people that have struggled specifically with pornography say that it's an addiction they'll be fighting for the rest of their lives. Kinda like once an alcoholic, always an alcoholic, and we just have different degrees of sobriety.
But that's not what Jesus says. "If the Son sets you free, you are free indeed." If our freedom comes from Jesus, we are completely, 100% free. There's no sin that's too big for Jesus. There's no addiction that's too strong for Him to break. There's no heart that too filthy for Him to clean.
So where does your freedom come from? A 12-step program? An internet filter? An accountability partner? A support group? A council session with a pastor? If your freedom doesn't come from Jesus maybe a more fitting question would be where does your current level of sobriety come from? Because once an alcoholic, always an alcoholic isn't freedom. Battling with lust for the rest of your life isn't freedom.
CB!
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Man
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Posted: Mon Sep 29th, 2008 11:31 pm |
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CB: Where does your freedom come from? and HOW did you get that freedom?
If a guy comes and try to sell me something, i.e. religion, Jesus, whatsoever and he can't demonstrate in his own life that it works, that it gives good fruits, then why should I go for it?
As far as I can see, good fruits are: see, serve, build up, give among other things, not explain how it is.
So if someone comes and explains and tells and screams about how it should be, it might not be very interesting for me before I see that this person wants me well. If I see that this person see me, builds me up, shows interest for me, then I might find it interesting. I might think that this person has something that I might want to have..
So if someone might share something of what has helped them and how that is kindo giving maybe and then I might pick up what I need/ want.. and leave the rest..
Thanks
Last edited on Mon Sep 29th, 2008 11:46 pm by Man
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Wilderness Voice
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Posted: Mon Sep 29th, 2008 11:36 pm |
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Totally agree CB. Freedom only comes from Jesus Christ. Living with something for the rest of your life is not freedom - it is maintenance - or tolerance - or something other than real freedom from bondage to sin.
WV
Last edited on Mon Sep 29th, 2008 11:37 pm by Wilderness Voice
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Man
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Posted: Tue Sep 30th, 2008 12:12 am |
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If someone just says "Go to Jesus" or something, I guess it won't help me very much, but if someone tells me HOW they applied those things into their lives, it might be helpful.. HOW did YOU do it CB? HOW did it work for you?
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CB
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Posted: Tue Sep 30th, 2008 05:48 pm |
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I don't know what exactly you want me to say. I've given my testimony and stressed different parts of it at different times. The point to my original post was you'll be struggling with sin until Jesus sets you free.
I've said before (either in a public post, or in PM) that Jesus and the Bible are MY standard of truth. I've tried a bunch of other things to try to beat lust on my own, and nothing provided the long lasting freedom that I needed. And it wasn't until I put Jesus first in my life that He was able to set me free. And since I have, I can honestly say that I've been free indeed.
The 'fruits' of this freedom in my life are: not having the pulling desire to look at pornography or women in skimpy clothing, my relationship with my wife has dramatically improved (praise God), I don't get as angry as I used to, among other things. And please don't get me wrong. I'm not trying to brag about how good I am, because it's not me. It's only because of Jesus that I'm where I'm at. And He's slowly (but surely) dealing with many other areas in my life.
I'm not perfect by any means, and I still have a long way to go. But the simple fact is that God doesn't want perfect people. He wants people that depend on Him. And when I finally realized that I was helpless to help myself and cried out to God to deliver me, was when the Son set me free.
I don't know what else to say, or how else to say it. This original post wasn't directed at you specifically. God showed me that people are looking for freedom in so many different places when it can only be found in Him. So I posted what I learned. It's my responsibility to do/say what I feel God wants me to do/say. It's God's responsibility to change hearts. I'm praying for you.
CB!
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guitarist63
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Posted: Tue Sep 30th, 2008 06:39 pm |
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CB, how do you know that God does not want perfect people?
According to God's Word (the Bible), Leviticus chapter 11, verse 44, it is God's command to us to be holy as He is holy:
New American Standard version:
Lev. 11: 44 For I am the Lord your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy; for I am holy. And you shall not make yourselves unclean with any of the swarming things that swarm on the earth.
Deuteronomy 18: 13 "You shall be blameless before the Lord your God."
There are many other passages in the Bible that speak of God requiring His people to be holy and perfect, even as He is. So if that is God's intent, why say He does not want perfect people?
If I were perfect and everybody on this planet right at this minute then perhaps God would call us all to heaven and that wouldn't be at all bad would it? There might not be so much to do down here if that were the case.
Store up treasure in heaven, He tells us so to build a perfect world here can't be His objective but to prepare His creation for a time when all praise and honour and glory will be given to Him.
Every day, I try to live by God's standards, knowing full well they are the highest and also that I am bound to fall short every day. That does not mean I stop trying.
Last edited on Tue Sep 30th, 2008 08:10 pm by guitarist63
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CB
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Posted: Tue Sep 30th, 2008 08:37 pm |
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Let me clarify what I meant by 'perfect'. Because somebody's gonna say "Yeah, but Matt. 5:48 says 'Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.'"
First off, I think this verse is saying strive for perfection because God is perfect and we are to be imitators of God. Through most of Matt. 5, Jesus is raising the bar, so to speak. It's no longer about physically committing adultery. Don't even look lustfully at a woman, because lustful looking gives birth to adultery in your heart. It's no longer about physically committing murder. Don't stay angry with your brother, because harboring anger gives birth to murder in your heart. So Jesus is saying be perfect inwardly in your heart and in your mind, as well as outwardly with your physical actions.
If we ever got to the point where we reached 'perfection', we would not need God. That's where the real kicker is. We can only be made perfect through Jesus; by our dependence on God. And that's what I meant by God not wanting perfect people. He doesn't want somebody that doesn't need Him. Of course, we're supposed to strive for perfection, but if the law would have been possible to keep, then Jesus (the fulfillment of that law) is not necessary. Shoot, the law wasn't even possible to keep when there was only one command, "...you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil..."
CB!
Last edited on Wed Dec 17th, 2008 02:28 pm by CB
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guitarist63
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Posted: Tue Sep 30th, 2008 09:53 pm |
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Thanks CB for your explanation.
Being perfect - has anybody reached that - Jesus always was but can we be holy as He is holy? A rhetorical question.
Glad you made your point clearer for me.
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TimM
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Posted: Fri Oct 3rd, 2008 05:17 am |
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CB and I have exchanged a couple of PMs about this thread, trying to work out in what I'm finding a friendly and stimulating chat what each of us is and isn't saying about Christ and about the 12-step program.
That conversation moves me to ask a slightly different question than CB does at the start of this thread: What is freedom, anyway?
CB gives a partial answer for himself when he writes to me, "An ex-alcoholic that can't enjoy a glass of wine because they'll slip back into full-fledged alcoholism, isn't really free." (I hope it's OK to quote that line; it doesn't seem at all personal.)
What I found myself trying to muddle over was how to translate that principle out of alcoholism and into sex addiction. Part of the problem is that really nothing I did as an active addict seems to me to be acceptable in moderation. "An ex-SA who can't use porn in moderation because they'll slip back into full-fledged SA isn't free"? That doesn't seem right, and I assume it's not what anybody here thinks. I really think recovery and morality for me have to mean forever saying no to every part of my old behavior and to many things close to it.
An example: Two years ago I was at a conference in New Orleans, and a friend invited me to take a walk with him through the French Quarter. That idea scared me as a recovering SA. I thought I would find many sights there triggering. So I said no, stayed in the hotel, worked, prayed, phoned a recovering addict friend, and attended an on-line SLAA meeting. All those were positive things, in my opinion, while a walk past a bunch of strip clubs wouldn't have been positive, I think, whether or not I was an addict.
I didn't think it was safe for me to walk through a place that was rich in triggers and full of immoral activity. Does this mean I am not free? If so, my lack of freedom in that regard gave me a chance to pray and attend a meeting and get ready for interviews. Isn't that a good thing, even if part of the motivation was a realistic assessment of my own weakness?
What is freedom for a sex addict?
I don't have an answer to this question, but I don't think it's an easy one.
Let me push this question a little deeper. I meet people who find the idea of being an addict for life depressing. "You mean I have to think about this stuff for the rest of my life? How awful. I want it to be over so I can go back to just living my life." What I say in response is this:
I'm not only a sex addict. I'm also a heart patient. I had a heart attack out of the blue 3 years ago. There wasn't great damage to my heart, and with drugs and some stents I'm back to something like my previous level of energy, but I'll be living with coronary artery disease for the rest of my life. At least, I think that's the common experience of most people with this condition, however great their faith and their desire for freedom may be.
What that means is that in some sense I'm not free. I have to do a lot of things that are hard and unnatural to me. I have to get regular exercise. I have to eat a sensible diet. I have to manage stress. I have to keep an eye on my weight. All those things will be with me for the rest of my life.
But you know what? All those things I have to do make me feel better than I did before. They're forced on me, sure, but they are blessings.
I have a long history of not taking up those blessings. I really need the fear of death to keep me moving in this new path of health. If I could somehow have my heart restored to total health, it would be remarkably easy for me to drop back into my old habits. "Oh, great, I don't need to worry about another heart attack, so now I can be free to go back to life as normal! I can get overcommitted and stressed out and stay at my desk until midnight eating a bag of Doritos for dinner while I work and never getting out of my chair. Cool!"
That wouldn't so great an idea, though, would it? I actually think that in many ways I am living a better life because of my heart trouble than I would without it. I look better and feel better and am more relaxed and have more energy and spend more time with my family. I may not be free. I have to do those things on pain of death, but those things are blessings.
For me, what I understand to be the chronic, incurable condition of addiction is very like the chronic, incurable condition of my heart disease. It limits my freedom. It means I have to do a bunch of things that are hard and unnatural to me. I have to be open to other people, not hide inside myself. I have to take time to pray and meditate. I have to examine my life and make amends for my errors. I have to trust God and trust other people. I have to go to meetings and make friends and do things with them. I have to learn to feel my own feelings, to accept myself as a physical and sexual being. I have to accept with love and as teachers even my greatest fears and the most unlovely aspects of myself. None of that is easy for me. Most of it is way harder than eating salads and running a few miles a day. All of it is stuff I hid from for my whole life.
But you know what? All those things I have to do make me feel better than I did before. They're forced on me, sure, but they are blessings.
Of course, most of this stuff is so hard for me, and I have spent so many years hiding from it, that it's very easy for me to stop doing these things and to return to normal life. Instantly freed from my addiction, the pressure for me to return to life as normal would be immense. The trouble is, normal life doesn't work for me. It never has. Normal life for me leads to isolation and distrust and dishonesty and despair as well as addiction. I took the opportunity to go back to that place earlier this year, but that wasn't a great idea. It hadn't improved since the last time I was there. It stinks, with or without the addictive acting out.
In many ways, I am living a better life accepting myself as an addict than I would without this extraordinarily strange blessing. I'm finding peace and joy and friendship and intimacy and trust and love and faith. I look better and feel better and am more relaxed and have more energy and spend more time with my family. I may not be free. I have to do those things on pain of relapse, but those things are blessings.
So I come back to the question, what is freedom for a sex addict? Can one be free who says, "Yeah, I need to have friends and be honest and pray and meditate and correct my errors and so on or else I might relapse?" And yet, is it real freedom to say, "I'm over the addiction, so now I'm free not to do any of those things?"
I don't know the answers to those questions. I think they are hard.
In the end, though, I wonder if we are not setting too high a value on freedom - hardly surprising when freedom is the ultimate virtue in our political lives. I don't think I'm seeking freedom as an ultimate spiritual goal. I'm seeking surrender to God. I'm seeking serenity about who I am and what the world is. I'm seeking service to others and communion with them. I think those are ultimate goals, and I'm OK if those blessings come because they're required in order to avoid the hell of active addiction.
That's a tentative answer, though, and maybe not the right one. I wonder, though, if we don't have to think a lot more about what freedom is before we're ready to decide where we can and can't find it.
Just how it seems to me as a bit of an outsider, of course. Thanks again for an interesting opportunity to reflect together.
Tim M.Last edited on Fri Oct 3rd, 2008 11:00 am by TimM
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truthseeker
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Posted: Fri Oct 3rd, 2008 05:56 am |
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Hi Tim and all,
I am not speaking as an addict, so this may not resonate with anyone.
I wonder if freedom might be that doing the things that maintain your freedom become so natural that one stops thinking of them as things to stay free and starts thinking of them as second nature, to the point that regression is utterly unthinkable?
TruthSeeker
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TimM
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Posted: Fri Oct 3rd, 2008 06:14 am |
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Doesn't resonate with me. I obviously like things more complicated.
Seriously, that makes a lot of sense, but I've said 5 times too much already.
Tim M.
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bil4913
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Posted: Fri Oct 3rd, 2008 04:41 pm |
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Wow, this is quite a topic/conversation. Good interaction.
I've thought about these things for many years thru my different stages of recovery. And I've gone from being an expert to one who only knows little.
Freedom: for me it's simply the ability to choose. To choose to say "no". When I am knee-deep in obsession and addictive pursuits, the question isn't "will I?" but "how bad?". I remember waking up morning after morning knowing that I would violate my personal moral code before the day ended and feeling powerless to change that.
Now, I can still choose to be stupid, but more importantly, I can choose to do those things that will support my desire to stay clean.
I vibe with Tim's analogy with his heart condition. The metaphor that works for me is the concept of an allergy. An alcoholic is allergic to that glass of wine. His deciding that he cannot drink it is not a lack of freedom, it's just being smart. If you're allergic to peanuts, it's not a lack of freedom that keeps you away from the Snickers. I am allergic to sexual stimulation, perhaps more than most people. So, there are movies that some people can watch without experiencing temptation. I can't watch them. I don't find this to be a lack of freedom, but a choice to not let myself consume what is poison for me.
Finally, to address the question of who/what keeps us free? Clearly, there is no freedom without God. He is the Source of my victory. But I must get my heart in line with Him in order to experience this freedom. God will not shove the freedom down my throat. And I'm a fool not to use the tools I've found to support my decision to remain free.
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Wilderness Voice
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Posted: Tue Oct 7th, 2008 03:09 am |
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To me, freedom is to spend a lot of time without actually remembering the previous interior condition.
To have a different set of goals, likes.
In moments where a memory returns, that it seems foreign, though ugly and hideous, to almost unbelievable.
To me, freedom is to see an amazing work of God, knowing that for years I begged and begged while flames of magnetic hell pulled my soul downward.
For you see, I wasn't just addicted to what I did, I was driven to give in further, to go deeper, seek more thrills, give in more. I was driven to give my soul over completely and yet didn't realize how completely I'd already given over.
I am free.
I could never express to you the difference of my mind and my wishes from now to someone I was before.
I do sort of understand what some of you are saying. But it seems such a half-measure to me. Not that you have not tried, or it does not work for you. Just that there is so much more.
But freedom also means to me never again. And never again is perfectly fine with me. It is a joy. A most wonderous treasure. It is not a burden, but a delight. I thank my Heavenly Father God and His Precious Son Jesus, over and over and over again for such a gift. It is inexpressible. A true conversion of heart is a most gracious gift from God.
I try to share it with you, but so many times it seems to just hit a brick wall. But that's all I can do. The Door is Jesus Christ, just as He told us. All of the formulas are laid out plain in the Bible.
God Bless You All,
Wilderness Voice
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Man
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Posted: Tue Oct 7th, 2008 03:19 am |
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It happens that I get in contact with people who claim to have come very far: Generally speaking: Wonder: What is the point of being totally free if being alone? Is there freedom alone? When I cannot connect with very free people, why being free? To what point? If I search for connection and I feel that I don't come into dialogue? What is the point?
What is the point in being totally free and alone? What shall the freedom be used to? Is it to give and serve?
Last edited on Tue Oct 7th, 2008 03:45 am by Man
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TimM
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Posted: Tue Oct 7th, 2008 04:22 am |
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WV,
I wonder where we'd end up if we actually could sit down and spend an afternoon together instead of just sending discourses back and forth across the aether?
There's very little in your last post I disagree with. I think you describe both the before and after states quite eloquently. I think I see more of a process of recovery where you see more of an event. I also think I see a social side to recovery in building and healing relationships that you don't talk about as much. But everything you say about inner transformation, I affirm.
We also probably agree in that what you are doing also seems to me from outside like something of a half-measure. That's part of why it would be interesting to sit down and talk. We're somehow not quite understanding one another.
It's too bad that you perceive a wall. I'm certainly not trying to be obtuse and inflexible. There are definitely places where we disagree, but I wonder if they are as stark as you seem to think?
Finally, you say sadly that there is so much more for me, and you talk about being in possession not of a burden, but of a delight. I wonder if you know me as well as you seem to think? If you think I regard myself as burdened rather than as profoundly blessed, then you misunderstand me completely. I of course think there is more for me, and for any of us. May we all grow toward that light each day!
It's a pity things of this depth and intimacy are so hard to convey to others. I still think that in the stillness under all the words we share a good deal. But perhaps I also misunderstand you.
Apologies, incidentally, if you last post wasn't at least partly directed to me. I've responded as if it were, but I accept the fact that less of the world goes around me than the more grandiose and fearful parts of me would like to believe.
Be well.
Tim M.
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Paulos
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Posted: Thu Oct 9th, 2008 03:57 pm |
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St. Augustine, the "Doctor of Grace" in western theology whose teaching stood on the shoulders of St. Paul, defined freedom very simply as the power to choose the good and do it. Until we are joined to Christ who delivers us from the power of sin, we don't have true freedom. The new power is bestowed at conversion/baptism (Romans 6:1-11), yet we are called upon thereafter daily to mortify what God has already mortified and to continue to present ourselves as conduits of his righteousness (Romans 6:12-14).
How this works out in Christian experience varies greatly from person to person. A few claim to have been delivered more or less instantaneously, but most testify to a life-long process that involves a good deal of effort and struggle against the former, now crucified self. The saying in John 8:36, "If the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed," points to a reality that will be perfect only in the age to come: "This is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up at the last day" (John 6:39). In the Lord's Prayer, Jesus taught his disciples to go on praying for forgiveness until God's kingdom come.
I, for one, am grateful he made that provision.
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Ed Neal
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Posted: Fri Oct 10th, 2008 01:56 am |
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CB,
It seems to me that your questions really amount to this:
If Jesus said that He would set us free "indeed," why is it that so many men live perpetually in a state of constant struggle that really is anything BUT freedom?
If that is not the nut of your question, it's worth considering all by itself.
Of course, it raises the question, "What is freedom?"
In my opinion, the fact that we feel the need to redefine the word betrays the fact that we really are not free, but we're trying to reconcile our condition with the words of Christ who said we would be "free indeed."
Often, in forums like this one, the measure of "freedom" is how many days it's been since there was any indulgence into P & M. Never mind the fact that the battle is all day every day... the allure never going away. We have "accepted" the "fact" that it really is a lifelong struggle... "once and addict, always an addict." Freedom from that sort of reality simply is not reasonable.
But that is a mistake.
True freedom is real freedom. It is a freedom that doesn't have to be redefined in order to match our experience so that we can claim to be "free."
CB, I like to start back 4 verses sooner... for it is there that Jesus tells us the means by which he will set us free from habitual sin. John 8:32 (NASB), emphasis mine.
you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.
The means Jesus uses is truth. ("be transformed by the renewing of your mind..." - Rom 12:2)
Therefore, if we persist in bondage to sin, we need to root out the lies that we believe, replace them with the truth and that truth will most assuredly "make us free."
Jesus didn't say that we would know the truth and the truth would enable us to fight the good fight and stay strong so long as we follow this list of restrictive strategies. He said the truth would "make" us... (even force us?) to be free.
I believe most strategies for overcome porn addictions are actually based on the lies that keep us bound. If so, then is it any wonder that so many remain in a constant state of struggle? How can a strategy based upon the belief in a lie release us from the power of that lie? Those who continually struggle are literally still in bondage. They are not "free" at all, even as they happily proclaim "I've been 'free' for 10 days/weeks/months now!"
So in answer to your opening question... "where does freedom come from?" ... the answer is "Truth." That was Jesus' answer in the very passage you opened with.
Pastor Ed
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clean2day
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Posted: Fri Oct 10th, 2008 04:47 am |
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I work with alcoholics and drug addicts, addicts like the rest of us. Addiction is Sin
At meetings they talk about the "Higher Power" mine is Jesus. So if there is a "higher power" then there is also a "lower power" Satin. When I was into porn I worshiped my lower power. I sang his songs, bowed at his alter, prayed at his feet. Just like the Jews did with their Golden Calf. Porn was my Golden Calf.
Satin had a chain around my neck. I was his slave!
Now it is easy to be a slave. A slave does what he is told, when he is told, because he is told! Easy no problems.
To be free one must make choices. First choice is do I want to be free or a slave. Jesus lets us make that choice. The Bible calles it Free Choice.
After I choose to be free then I must make other choices. Choices as to what and how I can stay free. Some of mine is to read His word, sing his praises spread how He has set me free. Giving testamony as to what God has done in my life. These are only a few but these are what I must do fo Him in order to be free of this sin. Letting Him be the power that is in my life.
One of the early church fathers tells us that when temptation is placed before us we must make a sighn on our forhead and turn and walk away from it. The sign? I believe is prayer and a prayer for stringth and the power to be Holy.
Just my 2 ccents worth. But part of the Lords Prayer says, "Lead us not into temptation, but to deliver is from the evil one....."
To me this means help me Lord to not place myself where I will be tempted and place myself where I will be weak in Your grace, power and deliverance.
C2d
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"When you need a victory, Jesus gives it.
When you need a friend, Jesus will be there.
When you need to talk, Jesus will listen.
And if you need to cry, Jesus will hold you close.
Rev E. O. Hilt 1908 - 1988
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Wilderness Voice
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Posted: Fri Oct 10th, 2008 12:17 pm |
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My wife and I were reminiscing back to a time when things were not so good in our marriage. In fact, at the time, they were terrible. But that's all I could remember. I used to have a near perfect recall of things, but in the last couple of years, the old circuits just seem too full to retain everything. Anyway, I actually couldn't remember the events. And my wife came to a conclusion herself: the pain was gone.
The pain of my past sins that hurt her so deeply, seemingly in pain that would never heal or end - that pain is gone. But we both agreed it wasn't gone because of the passage of time - though that helps lessen it. And it wasn't gone because there hasn't been a repeat - though that helps rebuild trust. But the final, ultimate reason the pain is gone is because the events will never happen again. The catalyst has been removed. The cause of the sin of adultery is gone. It is dead - it doesn't have any power.
The pain of the past is erased when the cause of that pain has no more chance of causing it again. That is why our marriage is healed and has been for many years. We grow closer and closer if such a thing were possible. The reason is because there is nothing there between us and by the Grace of God that made it so, there never will be again. The cause of the separation has been removed.
I praise God for this Freedom. It is wonderful, wonderful, wonderful! It came about because God in His Mercy was finally able to get me to see the Truth. The truth about my self: that EGO was the real cause of my sin. When I could finally realize that my main battle was with EGO, the battle of lust was finally won. It could not rule and reign with its supply cut off. Now, instead of being flattered by my wife, I am honored by her. Her adoration of me is beyond anything that syrupy flattery could ever mean. And I adore and serve her. My fight now is with the desire to be desired, which is a form of flattery. But it is so much easier to recognize and stomp on the serpent's head instead of chasing it's tail.
Ed Neal is right - the Truth will make you free. I was not free until I believed the Truth. Not what I wished it to be, but what it really was.
Forgiveness is easy when the original cause of the offense is put away and can no more bring about that which is so hard to forgive. I am not my wife's potential enemy, so even when she was forced to forgive in the midst of pain - now she is able to forget in the midst of love and healing.
If this is an island, an isolation, then may each of you some day find it. For at least this part of life has become an inviolable Paradise. A Garden that Jesus is invited to walk in and truly enjoy. After all, He planted it.
Wilderness Voice
Last edited on Fri Oct 10th, 2008 12:24 pm by Wilderness Voice
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CB
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Posted: Fri Oct 10th, 2008 04:31 pm |
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I totally agree, Ed. And I want to unpack your point just a little further. If we look at verse 31 and 32 together, we can catch the cause and effect, so to speak, of knowing the truth and what I believe that truth actually is.
John 8:31, 32 - To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." (NIV)
I believe in this passage Jesus is saying, "OK, you believe in Me. That's good and fine. Now keep my commands, and you will really be my disciples. Try to obey the law. I dare you. After enough failure, pain, and frustration you will come to the hard truth that you can't do it. You need Me and My saving grace. And once you realize this 'truth', it will set you free. And when you put your trust in Me to fulfill the law in your life, you will be free indeed."
And this is exactly what happened in my life. I believed in Jesus, but tried and tried to beat lust on my own. Finally I saw the hard truth in my life; that I am not strong enough to beat it. I needed to give it over to Jesus and let Him take it away from me. Once I knew this truth, the Son set made me free indeed.
When Jesus set me free from this addiction, it literally was like a switch was flipped. Does that mean that attractive women are no longer attractive? No. But there's not the uncontrollable pull of lust. That's what Jesus set me free from. I'll give a quick example. I'm a network administrator for a company and just recently we had a report where somebody was using a computer to view inappropriate material. For disciplinary reasons, we got all the data off the computer. And for 2 days it was my job to figure out the extent of what this person was viewing. There was no 'hard core' pornography, but there were plenty of pictures/videos of women that were hardly dressed, if at all. Before Jesus set me free, something like this would have been a 'trigger' that would have set up an indulgence of pornography and masturbation later. It would have only been a matter of time. But that's not what happened, because lust was not present.
I'm not saying this to say how great I am (because that's what some people tend to think, and if it comes across that way I apologize, because it's not my intent). I'm saying this to say that really real freedom is possible, and it's not found in an internet filter, a 12-step program, a support group, etc. It's found in Jesus Christ, and in Him alone. All these other things can be part of the path to freedom, but ultimately Jesus Christ needs to be the destination.
CB!
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cbthinking.blogspot.com
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