Overcome Porn: The 40 Day Challenge Sample

Day 37: Strong ropes and a ten-stringed lyre (going deep with accountability)

Over the last 12 days, we’ve been talking about the third strategy mentioned in 2 Timothy 2:22: run with. We must not just run from sin and temptation and run to holy pleasures. We need to run with those who also call on the Lord from a pure heart.

• We must meet together regularly, praying together fervently, as we foster genuine friendships.
• We need to recognize what fears and feelings of shame we have that prevent us from really opening up to others and talking about our temptations and sins.
• We need to be accountable not just for our behavior but for our false beliefs that so often hide beneath the surface and either drive us into hiding or lead us back to pornography.
• We need to have a plan in place for how to talk about our sin when it happens. Does your accountability partner know how to encourage you when you have failed?
• We should learn to look for sin in the “grey areas” of life, not just in the obvious places.
• We need to learn the balance of confrontation and compassion.

Today we talk about one of the biggest misconceptions about accountability.

Often we hear that accountability is a crutch real Christians should be able to do without. Sure, when we are immature or young in the faith it's necessary, but eventually people think the goal is to outgrow accountability. “Real spirituality needs nobody except God,” they say.

Any faithful reading of the New Testament will debunk this myth. God has designed our lives so other people are a God-given means to help us become more like Christ.

Hebrews 3:13 calls us all to exhort one another every day so that none of us may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. This means there’s actually a way we can communicate with each other to help us see how sin is operating at the heart level, not just on the surface.

Action Step

Read “Siren Song: Overcoming Pornography Temptations.” In it are two ancient stories that help to illustrate how accountability works.

Reflection

What kind of accountability are you used to–the kind like Odysseus or like Orpheus?