Rev. Ansere Francis
2𝑪𝒐𝒓 4:18 𝑾𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒆 𝒘𝒆 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒆𝒏, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒔𝒆𝒆𝒏: 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒆𝒎𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒂𝒍; 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒔𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒆𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒏𝒂𝒍.
The struggle of many believers is in how to live righteously in the light of the righteous nature they have come into in Christ. Although they are righteous, they still see themselves struggling with some peculiar sins. The way to overcoming your sins is not by meditating, brooding over them and feeling sorry for yourself. No one overcame sins in that way. What you focus on magnifies and enlarges. If you are always focusing on that wrong thing that you keep doing, you will never overcome it. It will rather overwhelm you. That is what our opening text is telling us, that instead of focusing on that
which is seen that is giving us a big-time of trouble, we should rather shift our struggle to another reality that will then subdue our present reality of trouble and weakness, which is temporal.
Let’s say you are struggling with pornography, yet you are born again. The issue is not that there is something wrong with your salvation, nor is anything wrong with your righteous nature. It is rather the matter of sin trying to take advantage of your carnal nature to dominate you. But the Bible says “sin shall not have dominion over you.”
This is a promise of God you must claim because sin will try to dominate you, but you must have dominion over it.
How do you do that?
The Bible counsels us to look not at the things which are seen (your present pornography addictions). This means, do not give attention to it to magnify its pull in your life. This does not mean you are denying the fact of your pornographic addiction. But so far as this problem has consumed your thoughts and your mind, you will never break away from the cycle of addiction. So while we are not looking at our present addictions and struggles with sin, we are also counselled to look at things that are not seen, which are eternal (our righteous nature in Christ). Thus, you are supposed to move from a sin consciousness in your thoughts to a righteousness consciousness.
You must deliberately become aware of your righteous nature in Christ, which is a reality in the spirit. Focus on it passionately, irrespective of the number of times you give in to pornography. If you will keep and continue in this mental battle, with time, the desire and the lust for pornographic materials will break from your soul and you will continue to live righteously for the Lord as you have desired. Always keep the awareness of your righteous nature over every present struggle with the sin you are dealing with. Always remember that until you have gained the victory, God is not going to say it is over.
𝗣𝗿𝗮𝘆𝗲𝗿: 𝑭𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒏𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝑱𝒆𝒔𝒖𝒔, 𝑰 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒃𝒐𝒍𝒅𝒍𝒚 𝒕𝒐 𝒀𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝑻𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝑮𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒆. 𝑰 𝒐𝒃𝒕𝒂𝒊𝒏 𝒎𝒆𝒓𝒄𝒚 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑰 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒘𝒆𝒂𝒌𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔, 𝒘𝒆𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒊𝒏 𝒊𝒏 𝒎𝒚 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆. 𝑨𝒎𝒆𝒏!
𝗙𝘂𝗿𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝘀𝘁𝘂𝗱𝘆: 𝑯𝒆𝒃𝒓𝒆𝒘𝒔 4:15-16
𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗗 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗕𝗜𝗕𝗟𝗘 𝗜𝗡 𝗢𝗡𝗘 𝗬𝗘𝗔𝗥: 𝑬𝒁𝑹𝑨 3-5, 𝑱𝑶𝑯𝑵 20
𝗚𝗼𝗱 𝗕𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗙𝗼𝗿 𝗦𝘁𝘂𝗱𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗪𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗨𝘀