Today, I want to have a real conversation with my Christian community. I want to stop avoiding the topic like the plague and bring it out in the open. It cannot be allowed to thrive in our churches, in our homes, and in our lives. It thrives in the dark and the only way we can see change is to bring it into the light. I want to talk with you about one of the biggest industries on the planet. Pornography. Today, I want to show you the devil that it is, why it has no place in your life, and that Jesus genuinely does provide freedom.
Many of you may know the statistics already, however, I would like to revisit some of these to provide light context of what we are dealing with. Coronavirus is a current pandemic; however, pornography has been a pandemic far before the world ever knew of this virus.
Did you know that every second 28,258 people are currently watching pornography? Or that $3,075 dollars are being spent on pornography every second (around $97B per year)? Every day 68 million search queries related to pornography are made, which is approximately 25% of total searches in a given day. These numbers are astronomical, and they only continue to get worse. As alarming as these statistics sound, it is not surprising either. Romans 1:28-32 tells us, “And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness…who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them.” As our society continues to push God further and further out of our daily lives, there is a line where God finally gives people over to their desires. We can see this especially with the rampant sexual immorality around us.
I am concerned for my fellow Christians in this time. Being a Christian does not make you immune to pornography. And current struggles are only exaggerated in this time of isolation as we strive to slow the spread of Coronavirus. Isolation is one of the single greatest driving factors that can make our struggle worse. Notice how I said “our” struggle. I am not speaking to you. I am with you. Even if you are living in victory over pornography, this will likely be something you have to be diligent with the rest of your life. It’s like alcoholism. You cannot even go back and taste one drop. The same applies to us. We cannot even let one small piece into our lives, or it can set us on a destructive course again. Like the Lord says in Genesis 4:7, “You will be accepted if you do what is right. But if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out! Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you. But you must subdue it and be its master.” We must work at this our whole lives, my friend.
I know your struggle. Whoever is reading this with the sting of that recent failure and that shame that seems to follow you every second, I know your self-hatred. I know the mental scars that this sin leaves. I know the doubt that it gives you – “Will I ever be free?”, “Can I ever be a godly spouse?”, “Does Jesus know my struggle right now?”. I am with you on this. As far along as God has brought me in this fight, I can and will always be able to relate to these feelings.
I want to encourage you in this very moment. This time of isolation that we are experiencing is only for a certain period of time. Don’t waste it. Instead of viewing it as a curse, view it as an opportunity. You deciding to walk in purity and obedience in this time of world-wide anxiety and fear could be a turning point for your struggle. It’s an opportunity for you to draw close to Him, as He has stripped away so many daily activities that distract us. This is the time. I would like to share with you three keys to my personal victory that you can apply to your own life as well. I know each person is different, however, I believe that some principles are timeless and can apply to every Christian.
1) Allies in Your Fight
There is perhaps no greater resource for your spiritual development than godly mentors in your life. As I think about the growth God has given me in my spiritual life, I can only think back to the early morning conversations over a hot coffee. The phone calls across the country to older men who pour wisdom and experience into my life. Allowing another person into your fight brings light directly into the sin in your heart. This has a profound effect. Ephesians 5:13 says, “But all things become visible when they are exposed by the light, for everything that becomes visible is light.” John Macarthur breaks this verse down simply and states, “The phrase for everything that becomes visible is light…is better translated, ‘for it is light that makes everything visible’. Light is that which makes things manifest, that which shows them to be as they actually are. When sin is revealed, it loses its “hiddenness” and is seen for the ugliness it is. You need those mentors to show you the ugliness of what we are facing, so that God can work in your heart to rewire your desires.
2) Intimacy with Jesus
This is the single greatest defense for any sin in your life. Jesus saved us and He will see us through until we reach His actual presence – Philippians 1:6 says, “And I am sure of this, that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” How do we pursue this intimacy with Jesus you might ask? We need not search for a new 12 step program on Google or dig down deep and white-knuckle it out to the finish line. We cannot do this on our own. We cannot say no to sin without Jesus’ help. If we do this without His help, it is sure to end in failure. The only way we can begin to experience change and a growing intimacy with Jesus is through Scripture and prayer. I challenge you to press into Him. To not avoid Him when you think your sin is too large. Pick a book of the Bible and begin reading through it one verse at a time. Purchase a commentary to take you along. Memorize key verses that will have your back when the battle gets strong. Psalm 1 tells us, “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does will prosper.” We must soak ourselves in Scripture. This is how we arm ourselves for battle. As we have armed ourselves with Scripture, we must also arm ourselves every day in prayer. God has shown me so many areas in my life that I need to work on. Through the help of mentors and Christ, I am in the process of memorizing verses to take me through these challenges. Each morning I begin my day by identifying the struggles I will face and asking God to help me with it. This helps me to call out the ugliness of these sins every morning, making me alert for the battle that I am about to face. But these prayers also tell Jesus to come in. To make a change. Because I cannot do it alone. And neither can you. Psalm 54:4, “Behold, God is my helper; the Lord is the upholder of my life.”
3) Trust the Process
All of you have likely heard this referenced by a variety of athletes. The reason why I mention it is because it is so true. The battle we face with pornography is not something that will likely change overnight. This will take time. Although it might frustrate you that this is a process, I want to challenge you to think about this differently. The fact that it is a process is actually beautiful. James 1 tells us that trials or the testing of our faith produces patience in us. This can also be translated as “endurance or perseverance”. This endurance you learn will benefit you for the rest of your Christian walk. When we get a handle on purity, it opens up so many doors for growth and maturity in our lives. Trust the process that God is working in your life. Trust that failure is truly forgiven – “I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more.” (Isaiah 43:25) To not trust that we are forgiven is arrogance, as we put our own judgement above God’s Word and what He tells us is true. Finally, know that we already have all that we need to fight this battle. John Macarthur tells us, “God’s ‘divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence’ (2 Peter 1:3). It is not that God will give us but that He has already given us ‘everything pertaining to life and godliness’. He has blessed us already with every spiritual blessing…Our resources in God are not simply promised; they are possessed…The believer’s need, therefore, is not to receive something more but to do something more with what he has.” This quote hit me hard. And I hope it hits home for you as well. We have all we need. We can fight today. We can fight tomorrow. And we can fight all the way until we go home to be with our Savior and Lord. He has given us all the resources we need. We just need to go to Him and use them.
If you stuck with this lengthy article, I commend you. I want to encourage you in your fight. I pray for you. I may not know you, but I ask God for a revival in the church. That this pandemic of pornography would be quenched with the goodness of Jesus. Let me tell you. Jesus is better. He always has been and He always will. 1 Peter 2:24 says, “He Himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By His wounds you have been healed.” You were not redeemed for your own glory. You were made for something more. Join me in this fight.
Nathan Cunningham, CSF Student President, Member of IUPUI’s Mens Golf Team
“Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.” – Proverbs 19:21
“What do you want to be when you grow up?” We’ve all been asked this question at some point as a kid. Answers could range from being an astronaut or doctor to a zookeeper or superhero. Whatever explanation we had, we probably had a period where we truly believed that was what we were going to be, but that phase probably came and left as we got older. However, I believed in my answer from 5th grade until I was well out of high school. I wanted nothing more than to be a race car driver, and for a while, I was blazing my own path (with the help of my family and sponsors) to fulfilling that dream, until everything changed and I let God have control over what I was controlling for so long.
I grew up in a small North Texas town where high school football is king in a family with its roots deep in motorsports. My Grandpa drag raced, and both he and my Dad raced motocross, so it was a high probability that my brother and I would grow up working on and pushing the limits of something with an engine and two or four wheels. I found my passion and life in racing when I started racing karts at the age of eleven. I quickly had success, piling up wins and track championships before eventually moving up to sprint cars. This is what ultimately led me to Indiana from Texas just after I graduated High School in 2015. The success I was having led to me to drive for the late Bryan Clauson, who is, in my opinion, the best sprint car and midget driver in USAC history. Indiana is the mecca you go to if you want to make it in racing and that’s why I was coming here, to do precisely that.
Solomon writes in Proverbs 19:21, “Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.” I had my life all planned out, or so I thought. I was going to race for one of the best USAC sprint car and midget teams, Bryan Clauson Racing, make my Mom happy by getting a Mechanical Engineering degree from IUPUI while still racing, and I was going to continue finding my worth and identity in the satisfaction that racing gave me. I grew up in a Christian home and went to Church my entire life, so in my mind, I was doing all of this with 1 Corinthians 10:31 as my motto, to glorify God, but I wasn’t truly trusting God with this and placing Him above everything. I had made a god, an idol, out of racing and the self-gratification that it gave me. It was about the time that I thought that my path to being an established full-time driver was finally starting to gain traction that my idol of racing came slowly crashing down. I lost my main sponsor, which caused me to lose funding for that season. Having trouble securing enough funding for the 2016 season, I was left with very little chance of racing. I decided to just help the race team with Bryan’s sprint car and midget for that year and learn more by observing a legend in the sport, while also focusing more on my studies. Then everything really changed in August of that year when Bryan was tragically killed in a crash at a USAC midget race in Belleville, KS. I was already discouraged with my own chances of racing that year, and now, the guy who I (and many others) looked up to as one of the greatest, had died doing what I aspired to do.
I remember my faith being tested and constantly questioning God. “Why am I here, God?!” “I thought this was where You were leading me?!” But like James 1:2-4 states, “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” It was through all of this that God was working in me to make me a new creation in Christ. After all of this happened, I took a step back from racing entirely and focused on getting my M.E. degree. I found a Church home and met a guy at IUPUI, with whom I started studying the Bible. I was growing in my faith. As I did, my eyes were open to how prideful of a man I had been. I was blessed to get an internship to start gaining experience as an engineer, but the more experience I got, the more I felt like engineering wasn’t what I was meant to do. I was again left searching for my purpose. I never thought that I would ever enjoy being around and leading a group of middle school-aged boys, but when I started serving in student ministry at my Church and seeing how God was working in these students’ lives, I discovered a new passion that God had led me to. I’m in my final semester at IUPUI, and I’m looking at a completely different life then I had imagined when I moved to Indiana and started at IUPUI 4 years ago.
Jesus tells us that He is Way, the Truth, and the Life (John 14:6). It’s through Jesus that I have found purpose in my life, not through my own selfish desires that this world tells us to follow. The world will tell you to just “follow your heart” (eye roll), but I know from experience that following your heart doesn’t lead to anything good. Following Jesus is the only WAY that leads to a joyful and satisfactory LIFE. My life now is far better than it has ever been, and that’s because of the change God has done in my life. In Romans 8:6, Paul writes, “For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.” Oh, how great the peace is that only comes from the Holy Spirit.
Payton Pierce, IUPUI Senior
Have you ever wondered what life would be like if everyone said what they thought? If everyone was so real and honest that they were unafraid to be, say, or do whatever they wanted? I’ve always wondered how differently people would act if they truly knew how friends, teachers, role models, and even family honestly thought of them.
School has always had one constant for me. Through middle school, high school, and even college, I’ve always had a heightened sense of self-image. For me, school was not only a place to learn but also a place to meet new people and build relationships. With that comes the ever-present battle to present yourself in a way that looks good to others. Over the past several years, I found myself contorting to the expectations of others. If a group needs a funny guy I fill that role. If people expect me to be calm and collected, I try and fill that role. Even the church expecting me to be the perfect pastor’s kid had changed my persona.
While none of these things are inherently wrong, they do pose a danger. found myself contorting to so many different perceptions I lost who I sincerely was. Ephesians 2:10 says, “You are God’s masterpiece.” Not the person who contorts to the ways of the world to fit in. Why? Because that’s not really who you are. I got so tangled in who people wanted me to be I didn’t come to appreciate the masterpiece God made me be.
BE YOURSELF, I tell myself, those that pursue you because of the dream they think you are or will become are not worth pursuit. Many times I’ve tried to be a person I wasn’t to fit in with the crowd or to receive admiration. That admiration will never last as long as what is being admired isn’t authentic. I have found that you can lie to yourself so much that you can even begin to change into bits and pieces of the lie you have been portraying. But all that is doing is messing with the masterpiece God made you and me to be!
Year one of college is going to offer you more opportunities than you ever dreamed! I was thrust into a whole new world with new responsibilities and new exciting challenges. I remember the first day being in my apartment with my roommates thinking, “this is it!” College is the time for freedom, time for fun, time for a fresh start. No one knew how cool or uncool I was in high school, no one knew the odd country kid who loved sports and the outdoors, no one knew my flaws. And as the first few weeks of school came and went, I remember going through the routine of meeting people, seeing what they expected of me, and portraying that to receive maximum appreciation and love. I think this was especially evident when it came to those special people who I wanted to be “more than friends” with. I tried to change into the person I thought they wanted me to be so much that it kept them from seeing who I really was. And this cycle continued for the entire school year, and it wasn’t until the summer that I truly realized it.
This summer those kids that I tried so hard to impress and fit in with, I don’t talk to anymore. The kids that expected me to fit a role that wasn’t designed for me are not the ones that I still text and hang out with. I finally realized that all that sacrifice to be the “perfect friend” was honestly just meaningless as the relationships I made through it. All of the relationships that mean the most to me are the ones that know me for who I truly am. The fake that I have portrayed in other relationships has not netted a single meaningful relationship, not one. I think so often we want to be the perfect versions of ourselves instead of just being who God created us to be. The relationships that last are the ones that appreciate you for you because in the end, your true self will always shine through one way or the other. It’s the people that accept you for that person who truly deserve your friendship.
Now I’m not saying all personal change is terrible. In fact, many times, changing yourself in certain ways can be beneficial. However, it’s when we start to change the core, God-given, values of our hearts to please the world that we begin to live that lie. Overall my first-year experience at IUPUI has been amazing, and it has resulted in it many authentic friends that have accepted and loved me for who I am. My involvement in IMPACT has also provided a group of people who just choose to love me for who I am. It’s so freeing to have a place that just simply loves Michael for simply being Michael.
Now to answer my original question, what would I do differently if I truly knew how people felt about me? I would simply do nothing because I don’t want to have to live my life catering to other people's perceptions of me.
All I know is that God loves me for me and if that isn’t good enough for the world, then so be it. I’m just going to be me and let others worry about whether that is good enough for them because I know I have real friends that love me, and a God whose love for me never fails!
Michael Shetler, IUPUI student, Life Group Leader
