God’s will is for you to be holy, so stay away from all sexual sin. Then each of you will control his own body and live in holiness and honor—not in lustful passion like the pagans who do not know God and his ways.
1 Thessalonians 4:3-5 (NLT)
Sex is a very powerful piece of our human existence. It is wonderful, amazing, awesome, and fun. God created it to be that way. Why? Because He realizes the power it has to unite two people into one. Sex bonds a couple at a very intimate level. It requires a vulnerability which allows a man and woman to experience freedom in ways that nothing else can. Of course, all of this was meant to be done within the confines of the marriage covenant (The I dos part of life).
Satan, who is amazingly good at taking something God intended for good and making it evil, has convinced the vast majority of the world that sex isn’t just for within marriage. In fact, sex can be with anyone at any time. With the advent of technology, one can participate in sex acts 24/7 in a closed room with nothing but a laptop or smart phone. The cold reality is that 79% of 18 to 30-year-old American men watch internet porn at least once per month, and 76% of 18 to 30-year-old American women report that they watch porn at least once a month. Even crazier is that the average age of exposure to pornography is around 11 years old.[1]
Here’s the deal. That porn consumption not only warps our sense of sex, it also leads to a whole host of mental health issues. In fact, “studies have found that frequency of porn use correlates with depression, anxiety, stress, and social problems.”[2] In other words, using sex outside of what God intended is destroying not only our soul, but our mental health.
No wonder Paul wrote with such a dire warning in our verse today, “stay away from all sexual sin.” It’s not to avoid fun. It’s to avoid pain and misery. We need to understand that God knows best, in all circumstances. He created sex, therefore knows the most about it.
If you need more ammunition to help decide about the harm of porn on our lives and our world, go check out a really cool docuseries at https://brainheartworld.org/. If you need help getting rid of porn in your life, visit http://gatewaytowholeness.com/. Both resources are free of charge and completely confidential.
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[1] https://fightthenewdrug.org/by-the-numbers-see-how-many-people-are-watching-porn-today/, accessed April 24, 2019
[2] https://fightthenewdrug.org/overview, accessed April 24, 2019
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