And when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a season.
Luke 4:13
Sexual temptation seems unbearable when you are in the midst of it. Or perhaps I should speak for myself. Sexual temptation seems unbearable when I am in the midst of it. That is my “lived experience,” as they say these days. But I know something today about temptation that I didn’t know and that I couldn’t have believed nine months ago—it doesn’t last.
That’s right. The temptation to look at pornography, the temptation to masturbate, no matter how strong, eventually goes away. It doesn’t last. The good news about Jesus being tempted in the wilderness for 40 days, if I may put it this way, is that it lasted only 40 days. Jesus got the victory over the devil, and then the devil departed from Him. That’s the good news of temptation—it only lasts for a season.
Nine months ago, I had no experience with lasting victory over sexual temptation. I couldn’t look back upon weeks or months of victory in this area. I had been looking at pornography since the age of 12. I had 50 years of experience with the temptation to look, and the temptation to touch myself, but I had no experience with resisting the temptation successfully, consistently, over a protracted period of time.
That has all changed. Now I have nine months of victory under my belt (excuse the metaphor). Now I see that victory is feasible. Resisting sexual temptation is possible. Living a day free from porn and masturbation is possible. And doing that one day at a time for 270 days (nine months) is possible. Why? Because sexual temptation doesn’t last. When you resist it for long enough, it goes away. Not for good, mind you. You should expect to be tempted again. But when that temptation arrives, just resist it again. It will depart from you. Rinse and repeat.
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