A Purity Plea

The word “porn” is the fourth-highest ranked search term by children under seven years old, and the average age when a person first views porn is only 11 years old. About 40 million adults visit pornographic websites daily. It shouldn’t be a surprise that nearly half of all divorces list porn as a contributing factor. The statistics on what some call “the most destructive force in our culture” are staggering. More than 11 million Americans have a sexual addiction.

Child porn generates about $3 billion annually. At least 25 percent of all employees who use the Internet look at porn do so at work. It truly is a road to hell with broken people lying all over the place. Our society continues to wave the “freedom” banner while millions walk into slavery, looking for love in all the wrong places.

The apostle Paul does not turn a blind eye to the problem of sexual addiction. He makes a plea for purity. “For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God; that no one should take advantage of and defraud his brother in this matter” (1 Thessalonians 4:3–6). The Roman culture to which Paul wrote was sexually permissive. His challenge to instill the notion of purity in their culture would be even more relevant today.

If you struggle with sexual addiction, you need to face this ugly sin with a passion of someone going to war to conquer an enemy. Consider these three steps: Admit you have a problem, get help with accountability, and remove all impurity from your life. Make a clean break and begin filling your mind with the pure things of God. You cannot find victory on your own. Your battle is really an obsession with self. Growing in Christ is learning to live for others, not your feelings. Your choices do not affect only you, they negatively impact those around you. So choose purity and experience real freedom.

Key Bible Texts

Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: (Colossians 3:5 KJV)