It really wasn’t that long ago, that it was difficult and it was usually pretty expensive to get hold of pornography. Today it’s difficult and it’s usually pretty expensive to avoid pornography. So what we’ve seen then, is the rise of these programs we call accountability software. In this edition of 3 Minute Thursdays, I want to tell you how to use accountability software right.
Transcript
It really wasn’t that long ago, that it was difficult and it was usually pretty expensive to get hold of pornography. Today it’s difficult and it’s usually pretty expensive to avoid pornography. So what we’ve seen then, is the rise of these programs we call accountability software. You’ve heard, I’m sure, of Covenant Eyes and X3 Watch and Lion, and all these different programs and I’m really grateful for them. I gladly recommend them. But my concern is not with the programs so much sometimes as the people who use them. So in this edition of 3 Minute Thursdays, I want to tell you how to use accountability software right.
So let’s get three minutes on the clock, and here we go. Now, what is accountability software for, what’s its purpose? Well as software, it’s meant to track where you go and what you do online, and then to bundle it all up into a report and to send it to someone. To send it to an accountability partner. The knowledge that this other person will see what I’ve done, that’s meant to hold me accountable. That’s meant to keep me from doing those things I might do, if I knew that it would remain a secret, just between myself and no one else. And then added to that software, some level of filtering. So the software itself can keep me from viewing certain sites or even certain categories of sites. Now, these are great features. They’re really really helpful for people who’ve struggled with porn, they’ve struggled at looking at porn in the past, they may have a bit of an addiction or for parents, who are concerned that their children may struggle in some way. This software is a true blessing. It holds off some of the absolute worst at what the internet seems so eager to dole out to us.
But I think it’s important that we make sure that we’re always looking beyond our accountability software and here’s what I mean. This software is a very helpful way to keep us from sinning. It adds that layer of accountability that makes us think twice before we dive into porn. And then it adds that layer of filtering that hopefully prevents us, even if we decide, I don’t even care if someones going to see, I’m going after it anyways, I’m just going to dive right in. And that’s great, right? But that’s not enough.
The point and purpose of the Christian life is not, to not sin. The point and purpose of the Christian life is not just to put all sorts of barriers around us so that we can’t sin, even though we want to sin. See, the Christian life is about growing in holiness. The Christian life is about growing in conformity to Jesus Christ. We don’t want to just not sin, we want to be holy. Really what we want to do as Christians is to put to death our desire for sin and then come alive to these brand new desires for righteousness. That is an amazing thing. We want to find delight in living lives that are marked by holiness and marked by this new kind of purity.
So accountability software is great at holding off temptation. It’s great at removing a huge temptation to sin. But, we need to take that opportunity to come alive to righteousness. In the end, we don’t want to have to rely on software like this to keep us from sin, right? We want to grow in love for God so that we don’t even want to commit that sin anymore. Ultimately we want to be able to live without that software, that’s the end goal.
So how do you use accountability software right? Well, if you’ve struggled with porn in the past, you use it to hold off sin while you learn to put on new patterns and while you learn to put to death old patterns. If you’re thinking of your children, use it to hold off the temptation to sin, while you teach and train your children and while you wait for them to develop Godly character. Whatever you do, do not neglect character. Don’t confuse holiness with the inability to sin. Don’t confuse sanctification with just putting some kind of barrier in place. Put that barrier in place and then commit yourself to growing in Christian character. Trust and pray that someday you’ll be so free from the sin you don’t even need that software anymore. That’s the great goal, that’s the great desire.
That’s another edition of 3 Minute Thursdays, I hope you found it helpful, see you again soon.
