When Jesus is given an opportunity to summarize the law, he gives an interesting response. He quotes some Old Testament passages which tell us to love God with everything we have and to love our neighbor as ourselves. It is interesting to note that in doing so, he is putting a large emphasis on relationship. God uses relationships as the vehicle for His love. We know that the Bible teaches that God is love. It is part of the very essence of who He is. There is no shortage of verses which speak of the amazing love that is found in Jesus. He laid His life down for His friends, He loved us first, He loved the world, He loves his people, etc…

Parallel to that, we see a continual message about being the people of God to others. Go and make disciples of all the nations is the task of every Christian. The things that we receive from God have not come close to their full glory until they have left us and gone to others. We receive love from God so that we can love others. We receive grace and family and hospitality. All so that can take them on and dole them out to our neighbors.

This brings us to the title of this post. Just what is the deep sin of pornography? People wrongly believe that it is lusting. They believe it because we are watching nudity and partaking of vile things. They believe it is because pornography is immoral. While all of these things are true, they still have not hit the right chord. Pornography is sin primarily because it violates the law of love. The law of love is the gospel. It is what every Christian is designed for. We have received radical love, and we are to love radically. The problem with pornography and other sexual addictions is that it destroys the vehicle of God’s love.

Pornography is often referred to as false intimacy. That is a really good description because it accommodates two things. First, it says that there is something that we need- intimacy. Second, it points out that we are not really receiving what we need from porn. So, if we are not receiving real intimacy, then what do we have to offer to other people? We are drawing on an empty well. Therefore, we have no water to give to the thirsty. We have no care to give to the hurting.

Saying that pornography is primarily a sin because of the content of the image and the ludeness of the acts is on par with cleaning the outside of the cup. The inside remains unclean. And it is the inside that we have to clean in order for God’s pure love to flow out of us. Pornography damages this process on many fronts. It contaminates the inside of the cup. It isolates us from our life giving relationships. It focuses on our behaviors instead of on the way that we love people. The more we focus on our behaviors, the more we bind ourselves into slavery to a law that Jesus already fulfilled.

God longs to love and care for us. I believe that God finds sexual sin detestable. But, I think that He weeps when we go to that well because He longs to satisfy us. He longs to be the place that we turn to when we are alone and hurting and in need. That is the kind of intimacy He longs for with us. How does this help a person who is caught in the trap of sexual sin? Here is how… do not stop acting out sexually because you think that God is ticked off at you for it. Stop acting out because you heard that He longs to care for you.