The 40 Day Challenge Part 2: Run To

A bit ago we looked at reasons why resolutions often fail and how to succeed instead;  you can revisit that material here. Today we’re going to do a deeper dive into the second point from that material: the rewards of purity.

Focus on the rewards

According to Peter Kinderman, Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Liverpool, one of the biggest problems with New Year’s resolutions is that people are using a rather arbitrary event—the beginning of a new calendar year—to motivate themselves to be different. “The very fact that we’re using the New Year to spur us to action might indicate that we’re not really able to do the hard work of changing,” he says.

Dr. Wiseman notes that the top 10% who actually achieve their resolutions are those who regularly remind themselves about the benefits. He recommends people create a checklist of how life will be better once they achieve their aim. What will be the reward?

The Bible is filled with the language of reward. How did Moses, who grew up in the palace of Pharaoh with the fleeting pleasures of sin at his fingertips, say no to those pleasures? The book of Hebrews says, “he was looking to the reward” (Hebrews 11:26). Indeed, this is the very nature of real faith. Faith “is the assurance of things hoped for” (11:1)—the anticipation that the life we are promised is real.

When it comes to saying no to lust and pornography, there are tailor-made promises in the Scriptures that hold out to us the blessings of having a sexually pure mind and body. The apostle Peter writes that we can become more like God Himself through His “precious and very great promises” (2 Peter 1:3).

Practically speaking, this means that just as we have fed our minds on pornography, we should now feed our minds on God’s hope-filled promises. Just as we have spent hours engrossed in sexual media, we should spend hours filling our imaginations with God’s vision for our lives.

• If you are sexually pure, you will be living in the will of God for your life (1 Thessalonians 4:3).
• If you fill your mind with that which is honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent, and praiseworthy, then God’s peaceful presence will be with you (Philippians 4:8-9).
• If you are not enslaved to your lusts, you will be freer to serve others in love (Galatians 5:13).
• If you are sexually pure, your life will be fruitful, and that fruit will be full of goodness, rightness, and truth (Ephesians 5:8-9).
• If you are sexually pure, your mind will no longer be foggy, your heart will be teachable, and you will be filled with the life of God (Ephesians 4:17-19).
• If you are sexually pure, your heart will not be enslaved to the worship of sex, which means you can wholeheartedly devote yourself to the true and living God (1 Kings 11:4).
• If you are sexually pure, you will be more prepared to be a great lover and to enjoy sexual intimacy with your spouse or future spouse (Proverbs 5:18-19).
• If you are sexually pure, you will keep your marriage bed undefiled (Hebrews 13:4).
• If you are sexually pure, you will no longer waste time but instead make the most of it (Ephesians 5:16).
• If you are sexually pure, you will be an honorable person (1 Thessalonians 4:4).
• If you are sexually pure, you will not be enslaved to your passions (1 Corinthians 6:12).

Read and reread these promises. Think of what they would look like as an “I Want” declaration for yourself:

“I want to be aligned with His will and surrounded by His peaceful presence. I want to master my desires, not being a slave to them. I want to be full of goodness, full of life, full of honor, full of worship, tender-hearted, and clear-minded. I want to make the most of my days. This is God’s vision for my life, and this is his promise to the pure in heart.”

When pornography assaults your senses or when those lustful flashbacks fill your mind, let this vision, and the promises attached to them, be the fuel you use to reject the world’s temptations.

If you want to be rid of porn, a sure-fire way to fail is to get caught in the trap of obsessing over what you are losing—not having your temporary “fix” anymore. Instead, focus on what you are gaining. Each day, prayerfully remind yourself: This is the kind of person I want to become.