July 2nd
“We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death.” 1 John 3:14 NIV
“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world–the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life–is not of the Father but is of the world.” 1 John 2:15-16 NKJV
“At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold” Matthew 24:10-12 NIV
The above verses link love with our transformation into the “new man” in Christ. One of the primary obstacles sex addicts have in becoming the new man is lust. Pornography is one of the world’s greatest promoters of unbridled lust. As people pursue it and the other delicacies of the world, their ability to love is damaged.
John explains that love is the ingredient that we need to be transformed to the new person in Christ. Without love, we remain in death, which is our “old self” condition that is enslaved to sin. Filling our minds with porn is analogous to loving the world or the things in the world. It helps us make sex and its associated images into idols in our minds. This worldly love, or lust, is a different kind of love than God wants us to have. It prevents God’s love from working in us and through us.
With God’s help we can escape the corruption of lust and rediscover how to live in love as God has commanded. Some actions we can take to help include:
- Filling our minds with God’s word each day (2 Peter 1:3-4)
- Stop responding to lust’s impulses / not allowing lust to motivate our actions)
- Getting rid of things in our home that are facilitating lust (see Clean House)
- Arresting lustful thoughts and redirecting our minds to pure topics (see Control Thoughts)
- Putting the needs of others ahead of our own (Philippians 2:2-4)
Each day as we set out to do these things, we can ask God to help us detoxify from lust and relearn love. We can move forward in confidence that the Holy Spirit will guide us and help us accordingly.
Questions for further thought:
How does lust conflict with our mandate as Christians to serve others?
In the Matthew 24:10-12 passage from above, what were the things that preceded the peoples’ love growing cold?
Why is our love for the things of the world a problem with God? (Exodus 20:23, Matthew 22:36-38)
Prayer:
“Lord God, thank you for redeeming me from the corruption of sin. Please forgive me for giving any ground to lust in my life and/or loving the world or the things in the world. Please cleanse my heart and mind from those sins. Please lead me and teach me how to live in your love. Thank you, Father! In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.”