One lie I believed about pornography is that it was God’s fault! Had He not created the sex drive, I wouldn’t be caught in this sin. So, what gives? Didn’t God just make me this way? Let’s examine why blaming your addiction on the way God created you is flawed. What we are now, what the world is now, is not only the result of God’s purposeful design. The design of creation, the original intent, has been fundamentally altered by sin. All of creation has been corrupted and scarred by the choice in the Garden. “God made me this way” is not true. Yes, you are made in the image of God, and even though sin has damaged it, the image of God is still there.

However, sin has defiled who you are at your core. Your nature and identity have been compromised. Therefore, claiming that unrestrained sexual desire is natural misses the whole story of the Bible. It tries to explain the world with a “Genesis 1 and 2 only” lens. It seems to tell the story in this way:

Perfect Creation → Heaven

This view affirms creation but misses everything else. If everything is perfect and exists now as a product of God’s good design, why is there evil in the world? This lens to the story suggests that there is nothing inherently flawed or wrong about who we are or our circumstances.

If this were true, then we are already perfect and will go to Heaven on our own. But if that were true, why would Jesus need to die for us? Instead, we must remember that the biblical narrative goes like this:

Perfect Creation→ Fall → Redemption → Restoration

God did make all things good, but because we sinned, we ruined the perfect state of ourselves and the world. Humanity and creation could not get out of the hole we dug ourselves into, so we needed a Savior to save us. Therefore, God entered into His own fallen creation to redeem it and purchase it back for Himself. This is the biblical understanding of the state of all things.

The Rescuer

Please don’t hear a hopeless tale. I’m not telling you that things are bad and that you are flawed and leaving it there. God’s modus operandi is about taking the broken and mending it. He is in the fixing business.

In fact, consider all of the things Jesus is doing through His perfect life, death, burial, and resurrection.

• He is re-deeming a people for His own possession.[1]
• He is re-conciling us back to God the Father.[2]
• He is re-claiming this world from the Devil.[3]
• He re-generates us by the Holy Spirit.[4]
• He makes us re-born to see the kingdom of God.[5]
• He re-freshes our souls.[6]
• He helps us to re-new our minds continually with His Word.[7]
• He re-stores our right relationship with Him.[8]
• He is the God of second, third, and 500th, re-starts by His promise to always forgive confessed sin.[9]

It is okay to approach God in our need for His grace. You are not burdening Him with your failure. We don’t go to God because we are perfect; we go to Him, and He makes us perfect.

Additionally, God loves to do this.

• He delights to cleanse us and act on our behalf.[10]
• He rejoices in healing the broken.[11]
• He rejoices in being the Savior for His people.[12]
• He rejoices in breaking the chains of your addiction.[13]

He is the fixer of impossible situations. He parts the Red Sea. He called manna from Heaven. He restores sight to the blind and makes the lame walk. He defeated death and the power of sin, and right now, He is taking the weak and making them strong. He is taking sinners and making them saints.

He is all about re-claiming His creation and re-storing it to its original design, to perfectly reflect the glory of God.

He is doing that even as I type this and you read it. Jesus is making all things new.[14] Nature isn’t perfect now, but it will be one day. You are not perfect yet, but you will be one day, all because Jesus delights in being the God of “re.”

Editor’s note:

Please pick up a copy of Jacob’s book, Hope to Win the War: How Pornography Enslaves and the Truth Frees.

References:

[1]2 Samuel 7:23 (CSB)

[2]2 Corinthians 5:18 (CSB)

[3]Luke 10:18 (CSB)

[4]Titus 3:5 (CSB)

[5]John 3:2–5 (CSB)

[6]Psalm 23:3 (NIV)

[7]Romans 12:2 (CSB)

[8]2 Corinthians 5:18 (CSB)

[9]1 John 1:9 (CSB)

[10]Ephesians 1:5 (CSB)

[11]Matthew 14:14 (CSB)

[12]Zephaniah 3:17 (CSB)

[13]Exodus 6:6 (CSB)

[14]Revelation 21:5 (NASB)