What You Pretend to Be
Aug 29, 2022One of the most common questions we are asked is “How?”
- How did you overcome your struggle with pornography?
- How did you heal from sexual abuse?
- How did you forgive?
- How did you repair your marriage?
- How did you renew your relationship with God?
- How did you start over?
- How did you overcome?
- How did you find strength?
The answer to this question came as Trisha and I were speaking at a large church in Indianapolis and she said, “Justin is finally the man I always thought he was.” It didn’t hit me then, but over the past couple of years I have realized how profound that statement was.
What has allowed us to heal? Given me strength to not struggle with porn for six years? Allowed us to not just repair our marriage but recreate it?
I’m not pretending anymore. Trisha isn’t pretending anymore.
God won’t make us into what we are pretending to be.
We aren’t free because we pretend we aren’t in bondage
We aren’t strong because we pretend we have no weaknesses
We aren’t whole because we pretend we aren’t broken
We aren’t pure because we pretend we aren’t struggling with purity
Our marriage isn’t growing because we pretend like it’s healthy
We can’t forgive because we pretend we don’t hold grudges
We don’t live with joy because we pretend like we’re always happy
Transformation doesn’t come because we pretend we don’t need to change. Pretending is exhausting. Acting like you have it all together takes more effort than admitting you don’t.
How did I overcome porn? I didn’t. Christ overcame it after I admitted I couldn’t. How did we start over? By admitting we were at rock bottom. How did we find strength? By admitting we were weak.
Maybe we don’t experience life and life to its fullest not because of God’s ability or desire to give it, but because of our ability to pretend like we already have it.
