Q: 

Hey Brandon – I’ll be honest I like porn… I use it for the practice… you know for my future wife… no one else knows… and doesn’t hurt anyone else. plus I have really stressful job… I figure there could be a lot worse things I do with my free time… everything in my life seems to be going great/fine at the moment… so what’s the big deal?

A:

Hello friend,

This I have learned: To that which I commit most of my time will prosper, but not everything that prospers is good. When Jesus was tempted in the wilderness, Satan offered to prosper Him in exchange for compromise (Luke 4:1-13). Yet, Jesus turned it all down because it would mean forfeiting His life’s calling. The definition of integrity is doing the right thing when no one is watching. My question to you is this: Do you want to be a man of integrity? If you must hide it, it is wrong. Hidden sin is like planting and nourishing a bad tree. It will continue to grow and bear bad fruit, and that fruit will make you sick until you die from it. Get under grace now and save yourself from the embarrassment of a rotten fruit harvest here on earth as well as an eternity “where their worm will not die and their fire will not be quenched” (Mark 9:48). Here are some parables from Jesus on the subject.

A Tree and Its Fruit (Matthew 7:15-23)

Beware of false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So then, by their fruit you will recognize them.

Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’

Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness!

The House on the Rock (Matthew 7:24-27).

Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.

Working the Word (1)

Lord, keep me from a seared conscience. Let me serve You in honesty and integrity. Like Paul, “since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade men. What we are is plain to God, and I hope it is also plain to your conscience” (2 Corinthians 5:11).

Father, pornography is an insidious evil that begins with a first glance at someone immodestly dressed, and “we are tempted by our own desires that drag us off and trap us. Our desires make us sin, and when sin is finished with us, it leaves us dead” (James 1:14-15, CEV).

Lord, cause people of my nation who are addicted to the sinful allure of pornography to understand that Your Word teaches, “Can you build a fire in your lap and not burn your pants? Can you walk barefoot on hot coals and not get blisters?” (Proverbs 6:27-28, MSG). Revel the burns of pornography upon the souls of our nation, and turn us away from its wicked entrapment.