“For the commandment is a lamp, and the law a light; reproofs of instruction are the way of life, to keep you from the evil woman, from the flattering tongue of a seductress.” Proverbs 6:23-24 NKJV
I tried multiple remedies as a Christian man for my sinful habit of watching pornography. I talked with my pastor (1996). I participated in a men’s study group at my church based on the book, Every Man’s Battle (2006). I installed Covenant Eyes on all my devices (2007). I got an accountability partner (2010). I attended weekly Celebrate Recovery meetings (2018-19). I confessed my sin to God and asked for forgiveness (1991-2021).
These actions worked with varying levels of success over the space of 30 years—none of them permanent. What finally worked was sitting down each day and reading God’s Word to discover what it had to say about pornography, adultery, lust, sexual temptation and sexual immorality. Only then did I discover the truth behind Solomon’s warnings to his son.
When Solomon penned this proverb to his boy, he didn’t write about The Bible in the abstract. He didn’t say that God’s Word in general is a source of wisdom to people universally, or that the Bible protects men in general from sexual sin. No, Solomon addressed his son directly, telling him that the commandments, the law, the reproofs of instruction contained in God’s Word, “are the way of life to keep you from the evil woman, from the flattering tongue of a seductress.”
I got lasting victory over pornography when I finally started applying God’s Word to my life personally. I stopped reading it as a book of precepts and principles and laws in general, and warnings intended for other men, and started studying it and applying it to my life in particular. The lights came on when I took God’s Word—particularly the words of Jesus—literally, seriously, and personally. When I went to The Word with a view to discovering verses about sexual immorality, I discovered that God speaks against it from Genesis to Revelation, and offers me remedies that work. I wish my father had written a letter of warning to me the way that Solomon wrote this letter to his son all those years ago. Come to think of it, He did. I just took 30 years to take His words seriously.
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