It's how walking with God results in real transformation. This is the first rung of the victory ladder:
Level 1: I confess and repent to God whenever I sin.
Some of you are already thinking: “That's it? I've been doing that (or trying to) for years. That doesn't feel like winning. That feels like losing.” Fair enough. Let's define our terms first.
- Confess means I admit it without dishonesty or hiding.
- Repent means I change my mind and show it by changing my behavior.
Why This Counts as a Level of Victory
The opposite of confession and repentance isn't purity: it's hiding sin, excusing sin, and enjoying sin. It's redefining what you did so you don't have to feel the full weight of it. A lot of men live there, not in outright rebellion, but in a kind of quiet dishonesty with God and themselves, developing a mental list of things they “don't talk to God about right now.”
The fundamental shift is simple:
- Confession means I'm not hiding sin anymore.
- Repentance means I'm not making friends with sin: I'm making war with it.
You Have a Partner in This Fight
“My little children, I write these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous one.”
1 John 2:1
Notice what John doesn't say. He doesn't say “if you can, find your way back to God's good graces.” He says you have an advocate: a defender, someone already standing in your corner before you even get up off the floor. That's not a small thing. That's the Gospel. You have a King who is with you in the battle.
Why It's Hard to Come Back and Confess
There are two roadblocks that keep men from repenting, and we'll tackle them today and tomorrow. The first: simply enjoying sin and not wanting to leave it.
Augustine, one of history's most influential Christian writers, lived exactly this before his conversion. Rebelling against his Christian mother, he lived in open sin for years, famously admitting he used to pray, “God, make me pure, but not yet.” Everything changed the day he picked up a Bible and read:
“Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.”
Romans 13:13-14
That verse gripped him. He was done delaying. He repented, and became one of the most influential Christian voices in history.
Ready to stop saying “not yet”?
The program walks you through what daily confession and repentance actually look like, so this level becomes a habit, not a one-time decision.
If You've Been Stuck in “Make Me Pure, But Not Yet”
I think this is your day. The Bible says now is the accepted time, today is the day of salvation, that God is able to give you beauty for ashes. Maybe you're here because things feel like ashes in your marriage or other areas of your life, and you're finally ready to make it right. Ready to fight, maybe for the first time.
“Repent, so that your sins may be blotted out, and times of refreshing may come from the hand of the Lord.”
Acts 3:19
The God you've been running from is ready. He's not mocking you: He's dead serious. You come to give up your rebellion; He comes to accept your surrender in this area of your sexual purity. He doesn't promise everything will be easy. He does promise a new start.
What to Do Right Now
Spend some time with God. Call it what it is: call it cheating on your wife in your mind, call it sin, call it evil. Don't make excuses. Don't redefine it. Tell God you're sick of it, and that you're ready to stop making friends with it and start making war with it.
Don't wait. Go spend that time with Him now.
This is Day 2 of Victory Over Pornography, Level 1: Confession and Repentance. Continue to Day 3 →