“And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”
Galatians 5:24
If you are trying to quit pornography and masturbation, don’t be surprised if the process is slow and agonizing. Sexual purity requires your crucifixion, after all. And when you are crucified, you are either tied or nailed to a large wooden beam and then left to hang on the cross until you die. You die from exhaustion, asphyxiation, loss of body fluids or organ failure. This unique form of capital punishment is neither quick nor painless.
Defeating pornography and masturbation requires you to crucify, not your body, but your passions and desires. If you belong to Christ, you are to take your sinful lusts and nail them to a cross until they die. When a wicked thought enters your mind, when you see an image online that stirs up your lust, you are to crucify it, put it to death, execute it. This is your responsibility. God doesn’t do this at the time of your conversion. And you aren’t supposed to struggle with sexual immorality all your life, waiting until your death for your sinful passions and desires to finally expire. Instead, you are the one who must crucify your flesh. You must crucify your passions and lusts daily.
Crucifixion was primarily a form of torture that eventually led to death. It was supposed to last a while. The condemned prisoner was supposed to suffer. This form of execution that the Roman politician Cicero called “the most cruel and hideous of tortures,” was also designed to encourage social conformity. The Romans crucified criminals in public and left them to hang on their crosses for days as a way to scare onlookers into submission. The message to those who witnessed a public crucifixion was simple: “Undermine the Roman empire, and this is what will happen to you.” Crucifixion combined state torture with state execution to act as a deterrent. Remember this the next time you are tempted to watch pornography or masturbate. Crucifying your passions and desires puts them to death today, and gives you an incentive to avoid them tomorrow.
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