Transcript:
I am sure this finds you in the same place and finds me: in your house.
I want to talk specifically about the coronavirus and pornography. Many things are being exposed right now – like weak immune systems are susceptible to the virus, so is the weak flesh susceptible to sin and opportunities to live alone in the darkness. Coronavirus is exposing greed. It’s exposing weak immune systems. It’s exposing selfishness. It’s forcing us to isolate.
Guess what? Pornography does the same thing.
It’s fueled by greed. It’s perpetuated by selfishness and it forces us into isolation when we give into pornography.
So it’s interesting that the very same things that create a breeding ground for pornography are being somewhat forced upon us right now in this crisis.
In this global pandemic moment, pornography use is on the rise. The Guardian, Forbes, CNBC, everyone is reporting on and highlighting this fact. Porn sites are giving away free streaming. You’ve already heard cruises and hotels are giving away their porn channels for free because they say it helps people de-stress. It helps them to not be isolated. It helps them feel connected.
Those things are all lies.
Unless your conscience is completely seared and you’ve hardened your heart, pornography is not de-stressing. It creates this sense of, of shame, guilt, condemnation, those things. Now we know if we’re in Christ, that those are NOT our identity. They don’t define us, but that IS the product of giving into sin. And so the lies that were being told about porn helping us de-stress or feel connected.
That’s not what it does.
Porn takes advantage of people. Looking at porn is a very selfish act. And it’s certainly not entertaining – like they are trying to promote it. “Oh, everyone needs entertainment now at home.” What’s not entertaining for the actors or actresses? And that’s certainly not what we were designed to be entertained or drawn to. It’s a perversion of it.
So I just want to call out practical and spiritual things right now.
The intended intimacy you were designed for is to draw near to God, and to draw near real relationships – authentic relationships – with other people.
Here are 4 suggestions for you:
We’re quarantine most of us across the country right now so take our 10 Day Challenge. It’s not like you don’t have time over the next 10 days. We created this challenge to draw near to the Lord in prayer and spend 10 minutes extra every day seeking him in prayer, reading, journaling and more! You can read more about that on our website. You get a video challenge every day from me, you get an article to read and then I challenge you to pray for 10 minutes on a certain topic and then the next day I challenge you to add 10 more minutes onto that. And so obviously we all have time. There’s no excuse why for the next 10 days you can’t take this challenge. It’s going to challenge you.
The weakness of the immunity of people is being exposed, but also the weakness of our flesh is being exposed as we’re being forced in this situation.
Secondly, find a good book.
There’s a list of them on our website: Finally Free, Intoxicated With Babylon, or grab one off Amazon since you can’t patron your local bookstore.
You have time right now to read a good book.
Thirdly, stay connected.
Stay connected with someone. Isolation breeds opportunity for pornography and those things cause we think nobody’s watching and we think it affects nobody. So stay connected, not just via text.
Practice social media distancing.
Fourth – unplug.
Unplug digitally. You don’t need to keep reading all the latest buzz things. You’ll find out, you know, what’s going on and what’s important right now.
I pray the weaknesses would be exposed and that we would develop strength in our inner man in the spirit man that we would learn to fight the good fight of faith.
Right now a lot of people are becoming hopeless. A lot of people are just sort of giving up. Remember a good book is only going to do so much if you’re not reading The Good Book (the Bible).
I’m excited because I believe God wants to do mighty things across not only the world but certainly across our country. Let’s stop passing judgments and let’s pray for the people making decisions. Let’s pray for the people in our communities locally, nationally, instead of pointing fingers.
Let’s look to Jesus who is the author and perfecter of our faith. Don’t let coronavirus become an opportunity for pornography. Let it become an impetus to drawing near to the Lord.
