My wife gets upset with me when I tell her I’ve looked at pornography.  She gets angry when I tell her she’s wrong.  She doesn’t support my decisions very often.

We argue, a lot.

Doesn’t that mean I should avoid her when I’m struggling with lust?  Doesn’t that mean I should just be quiet, avoid conflict?  Or, better yet,  blow up from time to time because I can’t take anymore?  Doesn’t that mean we are incompatible, that I should just make my own decisions and suffer the consequences for my actions alone?

In nature, when an organism avoids the process of growth, it dies.  When cells circumvent normal development we call them cancer.  When an individual chooses isolation, it is eaten by predators, or is already a predator itself.

This is going to amaze you.

The reason she gets upset at my looking at pornography is because I am supposed to stop looking at it.  It hurts her.  The reason she gets angry when I tell her she’s wrong is because she is strong, confident in her intellect and wisdom.  She believes in herself.  She doesn’t support my decisions because she needs to know I’ve thought it through.  The consequences of my actions will alter her existence too.

These are all processes in the growth of something healthy, something beautiful.

We are sinful, broken people in serious need of our Savior. We need His life, His love flowing through us.  We desperately need His touch in our lives, on our hearts.

And that touch comes through the people He has gifted to you.

Don’t push them away.

Embrace them!