One of the primary areas that I deal with in my counseling practice is sexual addiction. It is a part of my story and a passion of mine. I believe that there is a lot of bad information about how to approach sexual addiction. I think the church is no exception. Unfortunately, it is a hidden sin with a lot of shame. This causes men and women to struggle silently and try things that are bound to fail.

Something I have come to emphasize in my counseling is that a good approach to sexual addiction recovery should entail five angles. Good recovery addresses the physical, emotional, intellectual, spiritual and behavioral. Many addiction approaches lean too heavily on one of these angles and become off balance. One item- such as the behavioral- gets elevated over the others. The focus becomes mastering one aspect of the fight. This sometimes works for a period of time but usually just leads to frustration.

More appropriately, loving and Biblical is to invite the addict to a way of life that addresses all five angles in an ongoing manner. Biblically, there is no “arrival” in this life. Sin follows us until the day we die. Treating our addiction any different is futile.