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Don't Wait to Get Caught
by Beth Nyhart In today's world, we see Christian leaders fall into sexual sin all the time. Each time a name comes to light, it becomes more and more obvious that Satan has a huge foothold in this area. And if sexual sin is this common in our leadership, it has to be rampant throughout churches everywhere. What I believe is at the root of this problem is a fear of confession and a lack of trust that God's way is better than our own way. I believe this is the root of the problem because it was the root of the problem for me. I also believe that the church needs examples of confession and accountability. We need stories of people who choose God over their temptations on a regular basis. We need to be reminded of what we believe and why we follow Christ. And so, to that end, I'd like to tell you my story. I was introduced to pornography at a young age and instantly, something inside of me woke up that I have not been able to put back to sleep. You may have heard of people who take one drink and are addicted to alcohol, well, I took one look and I was addicted to sex. My addiction went unchecked for almost 10 years, escalating to include masturbation and cybersex. At the same time, I was growing up in a Christian home and building a relationship with God. I desperately hated these urges that I was not able to control. I was disgusted at my body's reaction to things that my heart knew were damaging, both to me and to the other people involved. I educated myself about the realities of the sexual exploitation industry, trying to convince my mind that this was a horrible thing. I wanted God to magically heal me and take the temptation away, and I prayed for that constantly. When I read verses like Colossians 1:22 "..to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation.." those words made me cringe. I related to passages like Isaiah 2, Ezekiel 16 and Hosea. I was the child bride who rejected her husband and went out to seek sex like a whore. But that was all on the inside. That happened in the dark and behind closed doors and in my cleared browser history. In my visible life, I held a position as youth representative on the church board. I was a trusted member of the youth group leadership team. I led the drama team in our church and started a worship band. I led two lives, and I had conditioned my heart and mind to accept this. Sin had an iron grip on my heart, and Satan whispered to me that only men struggled with porn, that I would be humiliated if I ever was found out. It was only when the Holy Spirit got through my defenses that I cried out to God. When I was 17, I gave myself the ultimatum to either get help or get out of leadership in my church. That fall, I entered an intensive discipleship program where I confessed my secret sin issues and got the accountability that I needed. I hoped that after the big confession that I would be healed, but that isn't the way God worked for me. Even with the help of my advisers and close friends, I had a decade of sin with roots that had grown deep into my life and habits that had to be unlearned. I needed regular and intrusive accountability to maintain a clear conscience for years, but the peace of living without the fear of exposure over my head, of knowing that I am forgiven and that my life is open to God's prompting and plan, it is the best feeling I have ever experienced. It has been another decade since I finally confessed and got help. There have been times when I failed, times when I backed away from accountability and ended up justifying small indulgences. But God used the decision that I made in my junior year of high school to build a foundation for repentance and pave the way back to a clean conscience. Just as it is easier to continue in sin after you have done it once, it is easier to confess and repent once you build that pattern into your life. My prayers for miraculous healing were not answered. Instead, I was given enough grace to take each step that was put before me. God's way has drawn me ever slowly closer to his heart through the years. And because of this decade of learning to discipline my mind, I am softer when he convicts me.. I am stronger when he challenges me.. I am braver when he asks me to change. It is both the mystery of his grace and the daily walk in his will that have worked the miracle in my life. As a body of believers, many of us have lost the discipline of confession. We are so afraid that we are alone in these temptations, and so afraid of the disgust that we see slung around on social media when a sinner is caught. But if we confess our sins he is faithful and just. He will forgive us from our sins. Don't wait to be caught; give yourself up. Turn yourself in. You have the choice of wallowing in your invisible dirt or walking into glorious freedom. I bet you would be surprised who all has been wallowing beside you. I was meant to be holy in his sight. Without blemish. Free from accusation. Should someone point the finger at me and name my sins, I do not need to cringe. Satan doesn't hold anything over me that has not already been confessed and forgiven. As the song says, sin's curse has lost its grip on me. If you are reading this, please do one of three things: If the Holy Spirit is convicting you of sin right now, tell a trusted friend that you need to talk to them. Even just setting the appointment is a huge step on the road to confession and freedom. If you have dealt with secret sin in your past and are now experiencing freedom in Christ, share your story with someone. The church needs examples of how to deal with their sin, and you can contribute to that cause. And if you are not in a place that you feel able to do either of those things, please pray. Pray for yourself and for others to have the courage to give themselves up and finally be free. Pray for God to give us all the grace to triumph over seemingly impossible trials and that we would trust that his way is truly better than our way. Beth Nyhart has her heart set on being a godly wife & mother, and being as close to God as possible. She dabbles in all things creative, from DIY home improvement to Bible Journaling, and is often swept into a new obsession with making stuff look cool. Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com |