What We Do With Our Shame

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Everyone, to a certain degree, is looking for a place to belong, a sense of self-worth, and confidence in his ability to do something well. And I believe Adam and Eve experienced that perfectly in the Garden of Eden.

But they lost their perfect sense of security because they believed the lie suggesting God didn’t have their best in mind, that He was holding out on them. They grabbed fig leaves to cover their shame, and in the same way, we grab a sort of fig leaf or mask to prevent others from seeing us for who we really are.

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Why You Lie to Your Friends about How You’re Really Doing

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One of the keys to freedom from porn is connecting with others, being ruthlessly honest with them. As long as I am connecting with people who love me, love Truth, and have the guts to stick with me through thick and thin and confront me when needed, I find increased victory.

But even if I know I am not the only one struggling with porn, if nothing seems to work in helping me get free I still won’t talk with others about my failures. Let me explain what I mean.

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What I Learned about Discipleship From 18 Months on Drew Street

I think the church in general misunderstands discipleship. We like programs where we go out and invite people to come to our building, tell them a cute Bible lesson, and then send them home. That way we don’t have to deal with them day in and day out. We can choose when we want to “minister” and when we don’t.

A couple of months ago I heard the news that a friend of mine became, in his words, “a child of God.” I never felt so excited!

While I wasn’t there for that experience, I had the privilege of walking with him through quite a bit in the last couple of years. You see, this friend was our fourteen year-old neighbor on Drew Street, a street in North Eastern Los Angeles notorious for crime and drug dealing.

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