Today's question comes from a teen. I've been addicted to pornography for three years, and I've really been wondering if there is still hope for me. It has seared my conscience into not even feeling guilty about it anymore. I've been living as a whitewashed tomb within my church and I know it. Even if I hear a great sermon that seems to speak

to my problems well, it just doesn't stick. My mind wanders elsewhere while I pray, and that really

makes me question the authenticity of my faith to begin with. Where would I draw the line and conclude

that I am, in fact, not yet saved? And how would I go about pursuing salvation at this point? Every prodigal

in the Bible or person that just came to Jesus seems to have a lot of emotion and especially

brokenness over their sin. I just don't have that brokenness that I so wish I harbored, like David

expresses in Psalm 51. I understand Jesus' love for me and my own sin in concept, but I cannot seem to apply it

practically, and I guess the question becomes, how can I? Any advice or wisdom in navigating this

mess would help me so much. So it is true that you don't, you can't grieve what you don't clearly see.

By clearly I mean see as God would see it.

And you can't confess what you don't grieve and you can't repent of what you haven't confessed.

Let me say that again.

You can't grieve what you don't see. You can't confess what you

don't grieve, and you can't repent of what you haven't confessed. And I think there are

two spiritual dynamics here.

One is, again, I talk about this, answering these questions,

is the tactics of the enemy to diminish in our hearts and minds the seriousness of sin. And we have such an ability to minimize sin.

You know, the guy at the mall, lusting after a woman will say, I wasn't lusted, it was just,

I'm just celebrating God's creation, the way he's created beauty. or the parent who is screaming and unbridled anger

at their children will say I wasn't screaming I was just being like one of God's prophets

thus say of the Lord or a person who is lacking generosity will say, oh, I'm not being selfish, I'm just trying to be a good steward of what God has given me.

We find ways of making sin more acceptable to our conscience appear less sinful.

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