Think Before You Look | Daniel Henderson

Daniel Henderson. Think Before You Look: Avoiding the Consequences of Secret Temptation. AMG, 2005. 160 pp.

Research shows that 60% of Christian men are addicted to pornography, and it is destroying many families. It easily creates a life pattern of deception, and it is a pathway to infidelity.

“Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.” (Galatians 6:7–8)

“According to what I have seen, those who plow iniquity and those who sow trouble harvest it.” (Job 4:8)

“So they shall eat of the fruit of their own way and be satiated with their own devices. (Proverbs 1:31)

A rather frightening factor in the sowing and reaping principle is the truth of compounding results. We always reap what we sow, often more than we sow, and always later than we sow. The apostle Paul wrote, “Now this I say, he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.” (II Corinthians 9:6) The deeper pornography and its accompanying habits sink their claws into your lifestyle, the greater the account of negative consequences grows. Eventually it will all come cashing and crashing down.

The one who toys with pornography can absolutely count on it: there is a bitter end ahead.

Here are some practical ways to help you avoid it:

• Read your Bible daily and ask God for His supernatural help each day.
• Every time you struggle, confess it immediately.
• Start a Bible study group using resources from www.strategicrenewal.com.
• Ask your spouse to immediately trash mail-order catalogs that contain semi-nude images.
• Take an 8×10 photo of your family with you when you travel and place it on top of the television in your hotel room.
• Ask housekeeping to remove the television from your room.
• Get rid of TV in your home; if you keep your TV, don’t get cable; if you get cable, ask your wife to block all questionable programming, using a password of their choice.
• Immediately change the channel whenever something questionable comes on.
• Before you go to the movies, screen them at www.screenit.com or www.kids-in-mind.com.
• Get rid of your computer; if you keep it, locate it in an open place where others can always see the screen, and install software to block questionable content.
• Download the free program X3watch, which sends the addresses of all the Web pages you visit to an accountability partner. (See www.xxxchurch.com)
• Place pictures of your family and others you respect around your computer.
• Find an accountability partner and be completely honest with this person about your problem.
• Join a men’s group where you can talk openly about this issue with prayer support and encouragement.

If your struggle is deep, see a biblical counselor right away, no matter how much time or money it takes.

Excerpted from Think Before You Look, by Daniel Henderson. Copyright © 2005. Publisher: Living Ink Books/AMG Publishers.

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