Rewiring Our Brains From PornographySample

Cutting Off Your Sin

Yesterday, I introduced the idea of establishing artificial boundaries in order to help men fight the temptation to sin sexually. 

Occasionally I’ve had men respond to the artificial barriers by raising concerns about legalism. There’s no Bible verse that says, “Stay off the Internet when you’re alone,” so am I not requiring something more than what God requires? Or they ask whether I’m treating technology as the root of the problem, as opposed to addressing the real issue, which is the sinful heart. 

Now, to these questions, I say, “Yes, the heart is the real issue; the beast is within. But technology is feeding the beast, which means we need to do something about technology in order to learn how to kill it.” We begin by cutting off the food supply.

What’s more, establishing firm rules about technology isn’t legalism. Rather, it’s a direct application of Jesus’ words in Matthew 5:30: “If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of the parts of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.” Hands are good, just like computers and smartphones. But hands that cause you to sin endanger your soul and must be amputated. And so must our technology if it becomes a stumbling block. Establishing artificial boundaries is mainly about identifying which “hand” is causing you to sin and then cutting it off. And given the violence of Christ’s imagery, staying off the Internet when you’re alone, in the grand scheme of things, is an inconvenience at worst, and pales in comparison to the value of one’s holiness.

Over the course of my ministry, I’ve found that this initial, simple, but inconvenient requirement is revealing. It separates those who are willing to take drastic measures from those who are playing games. In fact, given all the demands on my time, I tend not to spend it on men who aren’t even willing to be inconvenienced in order to walk by the Spirit. If they don’t want to create space by starving the beast, if they don’t want to establish the artificial boundaries necessary to deal with the heart, then all I can do is warn them about the gravity of sin and pray that they wake up to their danger.