“I failed..did it again.” I hear these words a lot. You can feel hopeless as you deal with shame and guilt. The more you view pornography, the more you feel shame, the more you feel hopeless. Part of the process in fighting pornography addiction is learning how to respond to shame and guilt.
I’ll ask clients when shame and guilt go away, and they tend to say with time. Or, they don’t know. When you view pornography you should feel guilty. What happens after that? Sometimes I’ll hear a client say, “I know Jesus forgives me, but I keep doing it.” Maybe an accountability partner shares with them a verse that talks about God’s grace. It’s difficult for a client to connect God to their experience of shame, especially if they have viewed pornography for the nth time.
The punishment for sin is death, not try to be better, visit Israel, talk to a priest. Sometimes the reason shame sticks around for a while is because you want to pay for what you have done. Remember the punishment for sin is death. When God forgives you for viewing pornography he is not being easy on your sin. He is saying that you cannot be good enough or sober long enough in order to pay for this time of viewing pornography. Only death can pay for sin. Let this sink in. This is why Jesus is so good for the addict when it comes to guilt and shame. Your sin can only be paid for by Jesus’s death.
Question to consider:
Do you pay for your sin or does Jesus?
Cowtown Christian Counseling serves Fort Worth with pornography addiction counseling from a Christian perspective. Check out more of our blogs here.
Comments