Your body. Your soul.
Most attempts at growing in sexual purity emphasize either the body, or the soul.
In ‘The Body Approach,’ you focus on the physical realm. Get rid of your computer, smash your iPhone and replace it with a dumb phone, exercise more so you’re too tired to give in, avoid your triggers. Don’t put yourself in a position where you can fall. In this approach, matters of the soul aren’t necessarily derided, but are clearly not as important as dealing with the body.
In ‘The Soul Approach,’ you focus on the spiritual, emotional, heart level realm. Spend more time with Jesus, pray more, share your emotions and connect with others. Learn about what’s driving you to act out sexually, and let the light of the gospel shine into your brokenness and heal you. Matters of the body aren’t necessarily dismissed, but are clearly not as important as dealing with the soul.
Scripture backs up both of these approaches. For example, when it comes to ‘the body’ approach, look at Matthew 5:29-30:
Matthew 5:29-30:
29 ‘If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. 30 And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.’
The message? Take proactive measures now to remove your ability to give into sin in the future. If your eye or hand is causing you to sin, then remove it now, so that when the next opportunity for you to sin occurs, you won’t have the ability to give in, because you no longer have your eye or hand, through which you were sinning. This is also known as the ‘take extreme measures approach.’
Here’s some scripture backing up ‘the soul approach.’
Mark 7:14-23:
14 ‘Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen to me, everyone, and understand this. 15 Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles them.” [16] 17 After he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about this parable. 18 “Are you so dull?” he asked. “Don’t you see that nothing that enters a person from the outside can defile them? 19 For it doesn’t go into their heart but into their stomach, and then out of the body.” (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean.)20 He went on: “What comes out of a person is what defiles them. 21 For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, 22 adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. 23 All these evils come from inside and defile a person.”
The message? Evil comes not from what we put into ourselves, but from within our hearts. So, the real problem is our sinful nature. This may lead some to only focus on heart, however, on the practical side, or physical side, what we consume can strengthen or weaken the power of sin still within us.
So what do we do?
We utilize both approaches to effectively fight. What does this look like in practice? We’ll get to that next time. For now, here are some questions for you to reflect on:
- In what ways have you implemented ‘The Soul Approach?
- In what ways have you implemented ‘The Body Approach?’
- Which approach do you tend to lean towards? Why do you think this is?
- What might it look like for you to practice both approaches moving forward?
