I am at a loss for words... God delivered me from a inappropriate content habit nearly two years ago and I find myself back in inappropriate content for the first time in two years... does this show that I’m not truly saved? Why have I back slid?
Hello KingFisher97, as Christians, we have been given a
new self/new nature, but our
old self/old nature remains in the background (on this side of the grave), and it rears its ugly head whenever it can/whenever we allow it to (so in a very real sense, our new nature is in a constant battle against our old nature). That's why we need to keep our eyes turned towards the Lord .. cf
Psalms 37:4,
renew our minds in His word, and to do our best to allow ourselves to become
conformed to this world and
its lusts again (and we must do so everyday/moment by moment by moment when necessary, in fact) .. e.g.
Joshua 1:8; Psalms 1:1-3, 119:105; John 17:17; Romans 12:2; 2 Timothy 3:16-17.
Ephesians 4
22 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires;
23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds;
24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
The good news is found here ..
1 John 1:9, so ask God to forgive you and restore you to full fellowship with Him and He will do so (because He promised us that He would), and turn away from the inappropriate content.
If you are tempted to look again, take that thought "
captive" ..
2 Corinthians 10:5 and give it over to the Lord to deal with before it turns from temptation into sin, again and again and again, if necessary (I believe that this is also the principle way that we obey the command from
James 4:7, to "
resist the devil", and the way that we receive the promise from God that comes along with that command, "
and he will flee from you"
).
And if you sin again, just ask Him to forgive you again and He will
(God is interested in our being free from sin, but that's not possible for us on our own, apart from a living/growing relationship with Him, so our relationship with Him is the most important thing, first and foremost)
God bless you!
--David
Psalms 119:9,11
How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping it according to Thy word. Thy word I have ~treasured~ in my heart, that I may not sin against Thee.
.