Welcome to this Overcoming Addiction course! I’m so excited to be able to take this journey with you!
Addiction is a serious matter, as I’m sure you already know. It destroys our relationships with each other, compromises our health, and separates us from God.
The fact that you signed up for this course shows that you are serious about overcoming. It won’t be easy. But it absolutely is possible. I know, because I’ve been there in the frustration, emptiness, and loneliness. I know what it’s like to feel powerless. Right there in my helplessness I found that God was faithful to His promise. He helped me overcome, and He will do the same for you.
How can I be so sure?
Nature Says So
God’s creation tells us about who He is. It gives us a picture of His matchless love.
“In nature itself are messages of hope and comfort. There are flowers upon the thistles, and the thorns are covered with roses. ‘God is love’ is written upon every opening bud, upon every spire of springing grass”
Steps to Christ, 10
Nature teaches us that God provides for our physical needs. After all, out of God’s throne flows a river of life. He wants every one of His creatures to thrive. The forest offers its bounties to the birds. Plants recycle carbon dioxide into oxygen for us to breathe.
“The eyes of all wait upon thee; and thou givest them their meat in due season. Thou openest thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing.”
Psalm 145:15, 16
In the same way, God is ready and willing to provide you and me with everything we need to live a victorious life and to thrive in a relationship with Him. It’s a beautiful thing to see His smile, to feel His love. We can know that when we ask for the things God has promised, He will give them to us. Victory over sin and a heart that loves to see His smile above anything else in this life are two of those things God has promised: “But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:57).
God’s Word Says So
That brings us to the second reason I am so sure that God will help you gain the victory over pornography: God’s Word tells us that He is eager to free us from the habits in our lives that keep us in chains, preventing us from experiencing joy with Him.
The Lord cares for you more than you could ever imagine. He says, “Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee” (Jeremiah 31:3).
No matter how far we’ve fallen, God doesn’t reject us. He still loves us, and His arms are stretched out wide with a heart full of anticipation, longing to heal us if we will submit ourselves to His care. “Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings” (Jeremiah 3:22).
Jesus’ Life Says So
There’s one more reason I know God will help you to gain the victory, and it’s the most important one: He bought you.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life”
John 3:16
How much is Jesus worth? One hundred billion dollars? One trillion? Would one googol (one followed by a hundred zeros!) suffice? It would be crazy to think that any amount of money could be worth the very Son of God, don’t you agree?
Read John 3:16 one more time. Friend, that’s what you’re worth: Infinity, the very life of God.
Imagine that you’ve just purchased an adorable little puppy. After paying for him would you just turn around and go home without him? No, of course not! Have you seen anyone else do that? Never! Why?
Because they already paid for the puppy to be their special friend.
It’s the same way with you. God sent His Son to die a terrible death, to suffer separation from God, in order to save you, to ransom you from the sin that is destroying you, and to give you a heart of love. It wasn’t easy for God to watch Jesus suffer. “The Lord is very pitiful and of tender mercy” (James 5:11). He felt every drop of blood, every sting of pain. His heart broke while for the first time in eternity the Godhead was broken apart – separated. But you were worth it to Him. You are worth it because you put a twinkle in His eye. His heart is filled with joy just to be with you and He wants to see your heart freed to love like that. God was willing to send Jesus, and Jesus was willing to go through with the plan, because They love you.
And now that They’ve gone through that terrible ordeal, now that They already paid the ransom, there is no chance that They will ever abandon you. They are absolutely, 100% committed to seeing you through the process of obtaining the kingdom. It doesn’t matter how far you’ve sunken into the vilest practices. God already paid for you. The deal is done.
“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? … Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord”
Romans 8:35, 37–39
Why All This Love Stuff?
“The mind gradually adapts itself to the subjects upon which it is allowed to dwell. It becomes assimilated to that which it is accustomed to love and reverence”
Great Controversy, 555
It’s not smart to walk forwards while looking backwards. You’ll just keep tripping up and running into things. In the same way, as sinners growing into the character of Christ, we must focus on our goal—the love of Jesus—and not on our failures. As we focus on God’s incredible love for us, we will become more like Him.
“We all … beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord”
2 Corinthians 3:18
Activity: No Turning Back
This week, spend at least a half-hour thinking about how much God loves and values you. Picture His face, a twinkle in His eye, His arms outstretched eager to simply be with you. Whenever you feel discouraged, instead of thinking about your failures, think about what Jesus did for you at the cross. Memorize the following text and repeat it to yourself whenever you feel discouraged:
“The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing”
Zephaniah 3:17
By focusing on Jesus instead of ourselves, we will have the courage to try again even when we fail.