Video coming soon. The video teaching for Day 3 is still in production. Read the full lesson below, it will be added here as soon as it is ready.
Yesterday we talked about the first reason men avoid repenting. They enjoy their sin and don't want to give it up. But for some of you, that's not the issue. You're sick of it. You've realized it's fake, that it doesn't satisfy. What's keeping you from repenting is something else entirely.
The truth is, you're so beaten down by this sin that you've started believing God is tired of you. That you've come back too many times. That the well of His patience has finally run dry.
I'm here to tell you that's not true. His mercy hasn't run out.
His mercies are new every morning
Not every month. Not every time you've managed a good streak. Every morning. Maybe you're a man who's been trying to follow Jesus, and you're getting your legs kicked out from under you by this habit, sitting there thinking, "I already repented, but it didn't work."
Let's talk about what repentance actually means for someone in that spot.
The word "repentance" means to change your mind. I used to think one way, and now I think another. So the shift might look like:
- I used to think it was no big deal
- I used to think it was a victimless sin
- I used to think it would make me happy
- I used to think it was just because I have a high sex drive
- I used to think I could get away with it
But here's the biggest change for men stuck in this cycle: you've been thinking God is sick of me coming back. What you need to start believing instead is God is glad I'm coming back.
God's exchange policy
There's an old story about a man who bought a blazer he later realized he didn't actually like: wrong color, collected lint, worn only a handful of times before it got shoved to the back of the closet. He knew Nordstrom had a generous return policy, but felt embarrassed to use it after so long. Eventually he worked up the nerve, walked in, and explained the whole situation honestly. Instead of shaming him, the salesman simply smiled and said, in effect, "Why did you wait so long? Let's find you something better."
That's the picture. Sometimes God's promises seem almost too generous to believe. We hesitate, delay, and carry burdens far longer than we need to. But when we finally come to Him in faith, we don't find reluctance. We find grace. It's as though God says, "What took you so long?"
You don't have to carry this alone.
Join men walking the same six levels, in the same season, inside the community built for exactly this.
The first sermon Jesus ever preached
When Jesus began His public ministry, the very first Scripture He read was this:
"The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor… to comfort all who mourn; to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified."
That's God's exchange policy.
What godly sorrow actually looks like
Just wallowing in self-pity isn't the same thing as godly sorrow: it's just feeling grumpy and hopeless. You and the enemy get into a two-way conversation: he tells you that you're worthless, and you agree. He says God could never forgive you, and you say that's true. He says you've done too much, and you say yes, you have.
That conversation needs to be interrupted and called what it is.
Real repentance, according to 2 Corinthians 7, produces earnestness: grief, yes, but also resolve. A clearing of yourself. An indignation toward sin. A longing to make things right. That's very different from wallowing.
What to do with this today
Ask yourself: Am I hesitating to confess and repent because I'm afraid God is tired of me?
If you have been, start there. Go to God. Be honest. Tell Him what you've done, and tell Him you're afraid. Let Him be exactly what He says He is: your advocate, your defender, your restorer.
That's Level 1. And it matters more than you think.
This is Day 3 of Victory Over Pornography. Continue to Day 4 →