Is Porn Ticking You Off? Today's Three-minute Bible Study Print, Study and Apply Title: Is Porn Ticking You Off? ------------------- Date: 2/13/2002 Keywords: "gentle" "joy" "rejoice" Welcome to eXXit, the web site designed to help you stand strong in the face of sexual temptation. Passage: Philippians 4:4-5* 4. Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! 5. Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. Questions 1. Do you blow up easily?   2. Are you fed up with God?   Practical help The verses above are easily misinterpreted. For example, some people try to force joy. It’s natural, when we are having problems like porn addiction, to look for quick, hard-hitting solutions. When we are in this frame of mind, it’s easy to think that these verses are telling us to "get happy," to forget our problems, or to act as if we are "gentle" when, in our hearts, we are raging maniacs. So to really understand what the Apostle Paul is saying here, we need to understand why he can tell us to do these things. Rejoice in the Lord, because He loves you and has saved you. Be gentle because the Lord is very near you. Verse 4 tells us how we are to relate to God, and verse 5 tells us how we are to relate to others. Verse 5 is harder to do, frankly, because we, as Christians, are called to relate to difficult people the same way we relate to friends, and that is with gentleness. Frankly, sometimes I act harsher with friends and loved ones than I do with strangers. Pornography, because it destroys relationships and turns people into objects for my pleasure, has nothing to do with gentleness. Also porn images might begin with looking at simple nude forms, but it doesn’t stay there does it? Porn images go in a direction opposite from what could ever be described as "gentle." If you are tempted today to surf porn, remember you have the ability to turn your mind toward God and be grateful for who He is and all that He has done for you. Also remember you are called to have a gentle spirit and to live a life in control. You can do this, because the Lord is near. It won’t be long until we see Him face to face. Keep this in mind and it will melt your heart and change your habits. eXXit homepage Index of three-minute studies Copyright 2002 by eXXit *"Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, © Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Used by permission." -