John 8:34 Jesus replied, “Truly, truly, I tell you, everyone who sins is a
slave to sin.
what this can look like is described here
Romans 7:
14We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a
slave to sin.
15I do not understand what I do. For
what I want to do, I do not do. But what I hate, I do.
16And if I do what I do not want to do, I admit that the law is good.
17In that case, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
18I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh; for I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.
19For I do not do the good I want to do. Instead, I keep on doing the evil I do not want to do.
20And if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
In my own life I struggled in this state for a while, and it got really bad. I was told that I was baptized as a child but I don't remember it. It wasn't my own choice. I had repented and experienced something I'd describe as spiritual after that, but I still got addicted to porn and alcohol afterward.
And in my opinion, yes I believed at the time that Jesus was real and God did raise Him from the dead, hence me feeling so bad about watching porn.
In 2014 though I saw something that really disturbed me and I took a very deep and honest look at my life and some of my beliefs and wanted to change because I wanted to recover from that very dark place. Found things that should be in me.
I
repented from alcohol, porn, fornication, etc. and soon afterward I got
baptized and found peace for the first time in a while (it was right before I went into the water, when the baptizer was saying "In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit) and that grew and grew until I was rescued from that very dark place and able to finally sleep at night, and I thank God.
the next year I did slip up and had sex with my girlfriend (wasn't watching porn though or drank alcohol) once, in 2015, but it was different. It was dark and I just didn't really enjoy it. No sex since then though, and I am someone who used to truly crave that. No porn, no alcohol, no drugs other than over the counter pain pills for my injured arm some years ago, etc.
since 2014.
If there is something that shouldn't be in me, God will help me repent from that and now, as opposed to before, I can get better and stop before it becomes a
practice of mine.
Acts 2:
38Peter replied, “
Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Romans 6:
2Certainly not! How can we who died to sin live in it any longer?
3Or aren’t you aware that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?
4We were therefore buried with Him
through baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may walk in newness of life.
5For if we have been united with Him like this in His death, we will certainly also be united with Him in His resurrection.
6We know that our old self was crucified with Him so that the body of sin might be rendered powerless, that we should no longer be slaves to sin.
7For
anyone who has died has been freed from sin.
We must repent, and be baptized after we repent and receive the Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is returning soon and His reward for our deeds will be with Him (
Revelation 22:12)
God bless, Jesus is Lord.
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