So, I have a friend who I was talking with the other night. He's struggled with porn off and on for quite a while, probably not unlike many Christians. One of the questions I asked him is what scripture he would tell himself, if he were God talking to him. He mentioned "flee from youthful lusts."

Well, I said, that immediately requires us to go do a couple word studies, because I don't know what that means. What we came up with is this:

Now flee from youthful lusts
and
pursue righteousness, with those who call on the Lord
from a pure heart.

[and pursue]
faith,
love
and peace,

"Flee" means to keep from doing something because of its potential damage: flee, avoid, shun

"Lusts" means a longing or craving for something forbidden

"Pursue" means to follow quickly in order to find something: to run after, to pursue

"Righteousness" means the characteristic of upright behavior: uprightness, righteousness

So, what we determined, is that fleeing from youthful lusts does no good. It makes you run around in circles, because you don't know why or where you are fleeing to. So, instead of looking at porn or masturbating, Christians should avoid it because of its damage. They should ALSO run after and pursue righteousness WITH those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.

So, telling God you're sorry over and over and over is wrong, because you're not obeying the second half of this passage. So, this person repented of two things: looking at porn, and he also repented of not pursuing righteousness.

Scripture is amazing if we simply put time into it to see what it really says, rather than talk about it like we know everything. That passage has incredible power (with only a moderate amount of research) which brought out the depth of the richness of the Word.

As we had that talk, I realized I've been fleeing from youthful lusts, and I've been pursuing righteousness, but I have not been pursuing righteousness with those who call on the Lord with a pure heart. So, everyone has something to work on...

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