Friend, you need to know the consequences of sexual sin. Considering the danger will motivate you to stay alert. Just like knowing that driving drowsy can lead to car accidents, you also need to understand the grave effects of sin and the joys of holiness.

Meditating on these realities will equip you to stay alert and fight temptation. As you seek to grow in godliness and purity, here are ten motivations to fight pornography.

1. Change is Actually Possible

This is not mission impossible. You can be free from pornography. Christ has defeated death (Romans 6:4–9; Galatians 2:20), and he gives you the Spirit of power so that today and every day for the rest of your life, you can choose not to pursue sexual sin (John 14:26; Romans 8:26; Romans 5:5).

This is not a losing battle. The Bible offers a practical, hope-filled path forward. If you want to learn more about the process of change, you can watch the Into The Light documentary.

2. God Numbers Your Days

“It is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment” (Hebrews 9:27). Are you ready? If God calls you to give an account for your life today, would you be judged for continuing in unrepentant sin? If this is you, now is the time to repent (2 Chronicles 7:14)!

Persistent sin marks unbelievers (1 Corinthians 6, 1 John 3:9), but, in Christ, repentance, not perfection, characterizes the true Christian (1 John 1:9). God desires your repentance and will welcome you with open arms (2 Peter 3:9).

3. A Clean Conscience is Incredibly Freeing

David wrote this about his sin, “when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long” (Psalm 32:3). But having confessed his sin, he sings out, “blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit” (Psalm 32:1–2). There is nothing as freeing as a clean conscience before God.

When you are not weighed down with a tormented conscience, you are free to lead your family, serve your church, and love those around you without guilt or compromise (Galatians 5:13–14; Hebrews 9:14).

4. Porn Breaks Down Marriages

God made marriage to be an intimate union of a husband and wife, characterized by trust, faithfulness, and love (Ephesians 5). Porn drives a wedge of betrayal, fear, and anger between a husband and wife.

Whether you are married or not, walk through the consequences. Think of your spouse’s tears, think of broken trust with your children, think of the phone calls with family members. It’s never worth it.

Your story doesn’t have to end here. You can invest in a God-honoring marriage by fleeing sin (Hebrews 13:4). No marriage is beyond the redeeming power of the gospel.

5. Holiness and Joy Go Together

One way we can rejoice in God is through the gifts he has given us.

God has given us little tastes of joy—in everyday moments and through relationships with others—in this life to point us to him. Porn is the opposite of joy. Porn militates against everything beautiful that God has given us.

Jesus tells his disciples that if they keep his commandments, their joy will be full (John 15:10–11). Paul tells the church in Rome that the kingdom of God is all about righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit (Romans 14:17). There is a profound link between seeking holiness and receiving joy. As you pursue purity, know that God offers joy today and a full, complete joy for eternity.

6. Porn Disqualifies You from Ministry

Do you want to serve the Lord in ministry? 1 Timothy 3:2 lays out the qualifications for elders, and the first five are: being above reproach, a one-woman man, sober-minded, self-controlled, and respectable. If you are watching porn, you are disqualified on all five accounts.

7. God Loves the Person on the Other Side of the Screen

When you watch porn, you participate in the abuse and degradation of men and women made in the image of God. This breaks God’s heart. Does it break yours? When you watch porn, you support an industry that makes billions off of sex trafficking. There are many ways you can love those in the porn industry, but it starts by not being part of the problem.

8. Christ Deals Gently with the Wayward

Are you feeling overwhelmed by shame and are losing the strength to fight? Remember that Jesus deals gently with repentant sinners (Hebrews 5:2; 2 Peter 3:9).

In Luke 7, while Jesus is eating at the table of Simon the Pharisee, they are interrupted by “a woman of the city, who was a sinner.” She poured out an incredibly valuable ointment on Jesus’ feet and wept with tears of faith and joy (Luke 7:37–38).

Jesus’ response to her was not rejection but welcome. He reserved his harsh words for prideful Simon. Why? Because the one who believes they are forgiven little loves little. But the one who is forgiven much loves much (Luke 7:47). Jesus knows the hardships of temptation. He was tempted just like you, yet lived without sin (Hebrews 4:15). He knows the weariness of battling temptation, so he can say to you, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).

9. Porn Lies About the Gospel

In Ephesians 5, Paul tells the church about the incredible mystery that marriage embodies the beautiful story of Christ loving and sacrificing himself for his bride. Marriage is the story of the gospel.

Porn utterly warps this story. When you watch porn, you participate in a perverted gospel that celebrates voyeurism as a lust-fueled, serial adulterer trading one pixelated lover for another. Can you imagine our Lord Jesus Christ using the church for a quick thrill before tossing her away? Never! Yet this is the witness of pornography.

If you struggle with assurance of salvation because of your porn use, this is why. Porn embodies another gospel, and this cognitive dissonance is misery. Brother or sister, use your sexuality to proclaim the truth of the gospel message instead of Satan’s lies.

10. The Pure in Heart Will See God

There are so many reasons to stop watching porn, but here is the best one: you will see God (Matthew 5:8). This is not just a hope we have beyond the grave. Day by day, as you pursue a pure heart, you will be able to see the glories of Christ clearer and clearer. The gospel will become sweeter and sweeter. And your hunger for God will become greater and greater.

We pursue purity because we want to see God today and for eternity. You will face the temptation to drift off course. Consider the crash. Consider the consequences. Consider Christ’s redemption. Press on, Christian! You get God.

^{This article is part of a mini-series from Jacob Valk and John-Michael Bout on pornography and missions. To learn more, read their article on #1 Reason Why Young People Aren’t Going on Missions and Fighting Pornography is a Church Effort.}