Dare to Believe in Your Own Dignity

Who You Are

The first step that helps every one of us is to dare to believe in our own dignity. God created every man in his image. Every man has the brush strokes of the master artist on him. In fact, every man's sexuality is magnificent. I wonder if guys who struggle with porn have any idea how wondrous their sexuality is and everything about them? There is nothing about a God-created man that is shameful or embarrassing. There is nothing for which he has to settle.

The Death of Porn

Ray Ortlund

The Death of Porn by Ray Ortlund is a series of personal letters written to men assaulted by the porn industry. Every man can experience his true royalty—not through self-help, but by believing the gospel. Pastor Ortlund paints the picture of a whole generation redefining their future with new dignity and confident purpose.

I would direct that guy to the gospel starting in Genesis 1 and to the image of God. I would gently invite him to—in defiance of his conscience, in defiance of the accusing voice within his own head—dare to believe in his own dignity before the Lord.

There is nothing about a God-created man that is shameful or embarrassing.

He might see himself as damaged goods. At some level, maybe that's true, but it's not the only truth. It is still true that he is in the image of God, he is a creation of God, and his life is worth fighting for. He's got to believe that. He must dare to believe it.

Ray Ortlund is the author of The Death of Porn: Men of Integrity Building a World of Nobility.

Ray Ortlund is the president of Renewal Ministries, the pastor to pastors at Immanuel Church in Nashville, and a canon theologian with the Anglican Church in North America. He is the author of several books, including Marriage and the Mystery of the Gospel; The Death of Porn; and the Preaching the Word commentaries on Isaiah and Proverbs. He is also a contributor to the ESV Study Bible. Ray and his wife, Jani, have been married for fifty years.