Stephen Kuhn's Blog, page 20

Weekly Web (W)roundup

Each week, I round up the best resources, articles, and videos I find that are relevant to finding freedom from porn addiction. Please note that by posting a link here it does not mean I agree with everything in the linked article. It just means I found it interesting enough to share.

Desiring God: You Are Not Damaged Goods

“When sexual history is revealed, both parties may feel betrayed for different reasons. Every sentence takes on the cadence of a threat — an ultimatum. Every question can land like a left hook.”

Gospel Coalition: How to Slay the Dragon of Pornography

“The pursuit of porn has bad consequences. We need no special insight to see it erodes relationships and never satisfies. But bad consequences aren’t enough to stop us. We must be ready with persuasive reasons to put up a fight, and then assemble those reasons into a story that has some of the following elements.”

CovenantEyes: 3 Truths to Help You Heal from Marital Betrayal

“If I could write down everything I learned on this journey I could fill a bookshelf, so I will try to narrow this down to some key lessons that proved extremely helpful for my healing.”

XXXChurch: What You Fear Most Will Heal You

“Nothing fuels addiction like secrecy and shame. Active in our addiction, we believe we are innately broken and unworthy of love. Unless we learn to give voice to our inadequacies and hidden transgressions amongst those who support us, our addiction will thrive.”

Rosaria Butterfield: What Christians Just Don’t Get About LGBT Folks

The post Weekly Web (W)roundup appeared first on Belt of Truth Ministries.

DONE: You Were Joined to the Lord

But the person who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with him (1 Corinthians 6:17).

When I read about being one with the Lord in Spirit, I immediately think back to the earthly example of this that God gives us all the way back in the Garden of Eden:

Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh (Genesis 2:24).

Yes, part of what this verse is talking about is the sexual union between a husband and wife, but it actually goes much, much deeper than that. As we see later when Jesus quotes this verse in his response to the Pharisees, this union is the literal joining together of two individuals by God.

Two separate persons becoming one in spirit.

As I write this, it’s been just over a week since my wedding. Needless to say, this idea of “two becoming one” has been on my mind a lot lately.

For the past year or so, I’ve been falling more and more in love with the woman who has now become my wife. During that time, I desired to learn everything I could about her, discover what makes her happy, and learn to avoid doing anything that might make her question why she keeps hanging out with me. I wanted to be with her as much as I could. Even if we were doing nothing together, at least we were together.

As great as this was, at the end of each day she would go back to her house or I would go back to mine, we deposited our paychecks into separate accounts, and we didn’t even have the same last name.

We were together, but we had not yet become one.

Today, however, thanks to the covenant of marriage, we are one. We now share the same house, the same bank account, and the same last name. Deeper than that though, our souls have been joined together by God. We have become one in spirit.

Yes, we are still two distinct individuals, but from here out, we will always be one entity: “The Kuhn’s.”

The same is true with you and Jesus.

There may have been a period before you trusted Christ when you we’re intersted in finding out more about Him—a time when you wished to discover if He truly was who He said He was.

Or perhaps you spent many years trying to impress Him with behavior and sacrifices in order to feel closer to Him (That was my story).

If you’ve never made the commitment of trusting Him as your savior though, you’ve only been courting Him. You’re still going home to separate houses each night.

If, however, you have trusted Jesus with your life, then you’ve already become one with Him in Spirit.

Your eternity has been fully aligned with His eternity.

Your debts were completely satisfied when He added His signature to your spiritual bank account.

Even your heavenly name has been changed to reflect who you are now that you’re in permanent union with Christ.

Everything changed for me the moment I pledged myself to my wife on our wedding day and the two of us became one in God’s eyes. As wonderful as this has been for us though, it is nothing compared to the eternal union we’ve received with our Lord and Savior.

And being able to know that we’ve been made one in spirit with the Lord, well, that is truly something worth celebrating.

This post was an excerpt from my book, DONE. 52 Amazing Things that Became True of You the Moment You Trusted Christ.

The entire book is available as individual posts here, but if you prefer a good old-fashion paperback, you can purchase a copy from Amazon.

The post DONE: You Were Joined to the Lord appeared first on Belt of Truth Ministries.

Smart Quote: D.L. Moody

Thoughts on this quote? Feel free to discuss them in the comments below.

The post Smart Quote: D.L. Moody appeared first on Belt of Truth Ministries.

Weekly Web (W)roundup

Each week, I round up the best resources, articles, and videos I find that are relevant to finding freedom from porn addiction. Please note that by posting a link here it does not mean I agree with everything in the linked article. It just means I found it interesting enough to share.

Integrity Restored: My 7 Year Old Asked Me What Porn Was. Here’s What I told Him

“You see, It’s not a matter of if our kids will see porn, it’s a matter of when. And while good Internet filters and accountability software are a must, we need to help our children develop their own internal filter for the unfiltered world in which they live.”

Relevant: The Real Reason Shame Destroys Your Life

“When Adam and Eve’s shame was exposed in the garden, they both turned immediately inward. Adam shifted his attention away from God and Eve and toward the search for fig leaves to cover himself and to hide his shame. Eve did the same. Man and woman sought independence from God, lost interest in one another’s flourishing and looked out for number one.”

Crossway: You Can Change

“I want to be like Jesus. I can observe him in action as I read the Gospels. I can study the life he lived and the love he showed. I could try very hard to imitate him. But at best that would lead only to a small, short-lived improvement, and indeed even that small improvement would probably only make me proud. I need more than an example. I need help.”

For the Church: The One Ring and Pornography

“Pornography may seem to be a mainly erotic temptation, but its deepest appeal is spiritual. Viewers come for the titillation but they stay for the autonomy, the power to make an alternate reality in which mythological figures (actors and models) submit unhesitatingly.”

Odd Thomas: The Reality of the Resurrection

The post Weekly Web (W)roundup appeared first on Belt of Truth Ministries.

DONE: You Have Received Wisdom from God

God has united you with Christ Jesus. For our benefit God made him to be wisdom itself. Christ made us right with God; he made us pure and holy, and he freed us from sin (1 Corinthians 1:30).

For the most part, school came fairly easily for me. I don’t recall ever getting a poor grade on a test or paper unless I purposefully chose to blow it off (which is a whole nother story). As long as I paid attention and read my assignments, I could get a decent grade without having to put in too much effort.

For an overly imaginative and creative kid like me, this was both a blessing and a curse. Sure, I could breeze through my homework quicker than most kids, which was a good thing. But then what was I supposed to do with all my free time?

In my younger years, I would typically play with Legos, read Choose-Your-Own-Adventure books, or draw epic Ninja Turtles vs. Star Wars battles. As I got older though, my decision-making skills seemed to regress.

Instead of building robots, I decided to stink-bomb the school cafeteria.

Instead of reading books, I chose to look at porn.

Instead of battling with action figures, I broke into cars for drug money.

The irony is, no matter how much trouble I got myself into, my grades never dropped. I remained on the honor roll at school despite all my poor decision-making.

I may have had a ton of knowledge, but I clearly didn’t have enough wisdom.

Wisdom is “the knowledge of what is true or right coupled with just judgment as to action”(1). You can know true facts about a million different things, but if you don’t know how to apply that information to your life, it’s just knowledge. Knowing facts and information may get you into the final round of Jeopardy, but it won’t help you navigate life unless you pair it with wisdom.

True wisdom, however, isn’t something you generate on your own. As Paul shows us in this verse, the source of true wisdom is Jesus: “God made [Christ] to be wisdom itself.”

Once again, Paul is speaking in the past tense. God made… It’s been done.

Furthermore, God did this for our benefit. He knew that many of the decisions we would be faced with in life would far exceed our pay-grades. Which is why He made Christ to be the embodiment of wisdom, placed Him within us, and granted us full access to everything we will ever need to know.

As Charles Ellicott says in his Commentary for English Readers:

“Christ became to us God’s revelation of Himself, thus giving us a wisdom from the source of all wisdom, which surpasses utterly any wisdom we could have derived from nature or from man” (2).

You can rest assured that God will never bring you to a tough decision only to leave you hanging. If you find yourself in a situation where you need wisdom, remember that Wisdom itself already lives inside of you. All you need to do is ask for it. He will make your path clear or give you the words to say.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned over the years, it’s that God’s widom far exceeds my own. Perhaps I’m wrong, but I have a feeling my decision to stink-bomb the school cafeteria wouldn’t have seemed like such a great idea if I’d sought the Lord’s wisdom first.

But then again, if I had asked Him, I probably would have missed out on all those fun hours I spent staring at the wall of the detention room.

This post was an excerpt from my book, DONE. 52 Amazing Things that Became True of You the Moment You Trusted Christ.

The entire book is available as individual posts here, but if you prefer a good old-fashion paperback, you can purchase a copy from Amazon.

The post DONE: You Have Received Wisdom from God appeared first on Belt of Truth Ministries.

Doubting the Resurrection

Every now and then, a verse I’ve read a hundred times jumps off the page and slaps me upside the head with new insight. In fact, just last week while reading Matthew’s account of the Jesus story, something stood out to me that I’d never noticed before:

Then the eleven disciples left for Galilee, going to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him—but some of them doubted! (Matthew 28:6-7)

It’s easy to skim past this verse and see it as nothing more than the disciples reporting for a scheduled board meeting. We might read the phrase “going to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go…” as if He’s asking the guys to meet Him in the conference room to review TPS reports.

If you read the entire chapter though, you realize that this is likely the first time the disciples have seen Jesus back from the dead. He’d already appeared to Mary in the garden and a few other followers on the road, but not to the disciples… not yet.

Keep in mind, these men had all walked with Jesus for years by now, listening to Him explain His parables, sharing intimate conversations around the campfire, even witnessing His miracles first-hand. So clearly they all expected to reach the top of the mountain, find the resurrected Messiah, and move forward with that whole “bring about the Kingdom of God” thing He kept talking about, right?

Not exactly. Some of them worshipped Him, yes, but (don’t miss this), some of them doubted.

Some of these men, after everything they’d witnessed first-hand, after all they’d been told, even after seeing Jesus standing there, in the flesh, right in front of their own eyes, still doubted.

They doubted He truly had been resurrected…

They doubted sin and death were defeated…

They doubted Jesus was who He said He was… the Messiah… the Son of God…

Standing there, face-to-face with the living embodiment of God’s grace, truth, mercy, and forgiveness; they looked into His eyes and couldn’t bring themselves to fully believe it.

And you know what? That’s okay.

I know many of you have doubts about this whole resurrection thing as well. Perhaps you’ve been looking at Jesus and wondering if it really is true—wondering if the life and freedom He promises is actually available for you. You may merely be curious right now, or you may be at a point where you desperately want it all to be true but you just can’t shake your overwhelming doubt and skepticism.

Again though, that’s okay.

Remember, these are the disciples we’re reading about here—men who knew Jesus personally—and yet some of them even doubted. If they we’re prone to doubt, there’s no reason to expect we won’t be as well.

Furthermore, I believe God allowed that line to stay in for a reason. He understands that we’ll all have doubts along our journeys, but He also recognizes how our faith can actually be deepened during those seasons of skepticism. In fact, it’s often those very doubts that drive people to seek truth—and end up finding Jesus.

When you look at it that way, doubt can be a good thing as long as it drives you to discover the truth.

We’re not told what eventually changed the minds of those disciples who doubted, but we do know they all came to trust Jesus. In fact, every one of them became so confident they were willing to give their lives for His Kingdom (as most of them did). Their doubt led them to seek answers, and the truth was made known to them in undeniable ways.

If you’re struggling to accept the resurrection of Jesus as truth, keep seeking the answer. Read the Scriptures. Listen to your heart as you ask the Lord to make Himself known to you. Find others who wholeheartedly believe and ask them why they no longer doubt the validity of Christ’s claims.

Keep your mind focused on Jesus and He will make the truth known to you.

If, as we celebrate the resurrection this Easter, you find yourself doubting whether there’s anything more to this holiday than plastic eggs and chocolate bunnies, know that you’re in good company.

Doubt is normal.

Doubt is okay.

What you do with that doubt, however, makes all the difference.

The post Doubting the Resurrection appeared first on Belt of Truth Ministries.

Smart Quote: Timothy Keller

Thoughts on this quote? Feel free to discuss them in the comments below.

The post Smart Quote: Timothy Keller appeared first on Belt of Truth Ministries.

Weekly Web (W)roundup

Each week, I round up the best resources, articles, and videos I find that are relevant to finding freedom from porn addiction. Please note that by posting a link here it does not mean I agree with everything in the linked article. It just means I found it interesting enough to share.

Terry Crews: Porn Addiction Messed Up My Life

“It affected everything. My wife was literally like, ‘I don’t know you anymore. I’m out of here.’ I had to change…”

Storyline: What God Sees When He Looks At You

“While I had been sneering at a prostitute, I had completely missed a deeper truth – that the woman across the street was once a little girl who had been in Sunday school, singing songs of hope and redemption. And somewhere she’d lost her way, and had been wandering a long, long time.”

People of the Second Chance: To The One Looking For a Second Chance

“Maybe you think you’re beyond a second chance? Sweet friend, no one, created in the image of God, (and that’s all of us), is ever beyond a second chance. No one. You are worth saving.”

TrueFaced: Your Testimony is Not About Your Superior Behavior

“No one comes to trust Jesus because of your improved behavior. Your testimony is what God has done and is doing with your astonishingly bad behavior. Your failures, real compromise, real, present-tense sin.”

Blogging Theologically: The Roadblock I Couldn’t See

“For years, I didn’t get the gospel message. Truth be told, I rarely heard it growing up. But I was pretty sure I had an idea of what Christians were all about: working hard at doing good deeds and spoiling fun for everyone else so they could get right with their God.”

The post Weekly Web (W)roundup appeared first on Belt of Truth Ministries.

DONE: You Will Never Be Separated from God’s Love

And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:38-39).

Chalk it up to my love of all things Middle Earth, but I can’t read this verse without thinking of the Lord of the Rings movies.

When I hear “No power in the sky…” I envision the Nazgûl swooping down on the backs of their fell beasts to pick off the men of Gondor during their ill-fated retreat from Osgiliath.

“In the earth below…” brings to mind the fellowship’s encounter with the fiery Balrog deep within the caverns of Moria.

And of course, “nothing in all creation” could include all the orcs, goblins, trolls, and the myriad of other nasties found within Tolkein’s world.

I picture those foul creatures and think of how lucky we are that these “powers” are only the stuff of fantasy.

Or are they?

Now, I’m not saying the Nazgûl are real, but it does sound like Paul wants us to recognize how sometimes the things we think of as fantasy are actually a very real (but unseen) part of our reality.

Angels… Demons… Powers of Hell…

Paul is telling us that spiritual creatures do exist…and some of them are bent on your destruction. But his point isn’t that you need to be afraid of them. Quite the opposite in fact.

Paul wants you to know that no matter what you come up against, none of it will ever be able to separate you from God’s love.

Why? Because Christ has already sealed your destiny for all eternity. Which means that even death itself will be nothing more than your passage from this world into the loving arms of your Father.

So no matter what happens in your life from here out, God will always love you just as much as He loves Jesus. And nothing will ever change that.

Not your secret sins.

Not the sins of others against you

Not the mistakes from your past.

Not even the full power of hell set against you.

Nothing will ever separate you from the love of God because of what Christ has done for you.

This post was an excerpt from my book, DONE. 52 Amazing Things that Became True of You the Moment You Trusted Christ.

The entire book is available as individual posts here, but if you prefer a good old-fashion paperback, you can purchase a copy from Amazon.

The post DONE: You Will Never Be Separated from God’s Love appeared first on Belt of Truth Ministries.

Smart Quote: C.H. Spurgeon

Thoughts on this quote? Feel free to discuss them in the comments below.

The post Smart Quote: C.H. Spurgeon appeared first on Belt of Truth Ministries.