Is it arrogant or proud to celebrate when you have gone for a period free from porn or any other sin you might be addicted to?
Many of the men and women I used to work with 1-1 to help them grow in purity would unknowingly quote Proverbs 16:18, “Pride comes before the fall,” and believe that if they feel good about a victory, that will set them up for a fall later. Instead of being excited about a victory or setting a new record of freedom, they wouldn’t allow themselves to be happy about it and even reminded themselves how sinful they “usually are” to make sure they didn’t get a big head. They were fearful of celebrating too soon.
Here is my take on this.
Anyone who is trying to overcome a habit of sexual sin has God on their side. Read that again and sit with it for a moment. God wants you to be freer than you could have ever hoped to be.
God. Wants. You. To. Be. Free.
God delights in your success because whenever we succeed at anything, it is a sign that we have cooperated with God. We never “win” alone. When you overcome a temptation to sin, all Heaven breaks loose! Every Angel and Saint erupts in celebration, cheering and praising God because you chose God in that moment! Why would you think Heaven is sad and quiet when you win? Hell is certainly not quiet when you sin.
A friend of mine once shared a dream/vision he had with me while he was struggling to overcome an addiction to masturbation. He said,
“I saw myself all alone and being tempted to masturbate. Suddenly, I heard a quiet yet disturbing chanting sound. The view drew back to reveal several demons standing around me, cheering for me to sin in a diabolical tone I will never forget.
The view extended further back, and the chanting grew louder and more disturbing. The vision revealed that I was in the middle of a football stadium, and thousands upon thousands of demons were piling on top of each other in a packed-out stadium, chanting and cheering for me to sin.
I know for certain that Hell is not quiet when I sin. They celebrate it when I turn my back on God. I never want to give them a reason to celebrate again!”
This dream had a huge impact on me. I could never see being tempted the same way!
Remember this: your brain is only sometimes your friend. Every day of the week, if left undisciplined, your brain will choose comfort over greatness. It chooses survival—avoid short-term pain and embrace short-term pleasure—without looking at the big picture. It almost never considers the long-term results of actions. For a beautiful life, we must be disciplined in how we think and, most importantly, how we choose to act, despite what our brain might tell us to do.
This is why the brain becomes addicted to the immediate gratification and ease of sexual sin. The brain knows that sexual pleasure feels good and gives us a momentary escape from pain, and so it keeps serving this up to us as something to pursue.
This is actually why, celebrating victories is one of the most powerful ways to break this mental pattern. When you celebrate a win over sexual temptation, your brain releases dopamine – the feel-good hormone – that retrains your brain to associate greater pleasure with winning the battle for purity than the gratification we experience through the sexual act itself.
Every time you celebrate a win over sexual sin, you condition your brain to desire this more than the sin. It is actually a very effective way to interrupt what I call the porn-pattern and teach yourself the purity-pattern.
If you never celebrate winning/overcoming, your brain will associate pain with victory instead of joy. This is not an effective strategy. You are working against your brain, not with it.
It actually makes no sense NOT to celebrate. But how should we celebrate? To ensure we never fall into the trap of self-reliance and self-righteousness, thinking we did it all on our own, we should praise God. Gratitude and thanksgiving to God are powerful weapons in overcoming sin and growing in humility. We never win on our own. Apart from God, we can do nothing (John 15:5). If you are victorious over temptation, always thank God for giving you the grace to work with Him and maybe even sing your favourite worship song or lift your hands up in prayerful praise!
So, have a win this week, and join in on the purity party that Heaven is throwing for you! Every time you win, Heaven lets loose! God, the angels and the saints celebrate your virtue, and you should too!
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If you are serious about becoming porn-free, don’t just hope for change — build guardrails.
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