I regret that I haven’t stopped committing fornication

Question:

Please, I need your guidance and prayers.

I am a male of 24 years. I have been baptized but still commit fornication. I have had sex with numerous women of which there is not even one I don't regret instantly after having sex with. I pray for forgiveness, I but still go back to this sinful act. I really want to stop because I know it destroys my soul, but my fear is: will God forgive and accept me back? Will God listen to my prayers as a sinner of this nature? Please help me, for I am really suffering.

Answer:

The way you are currently living? No, God doesn't listen to the prayers of those living in sin. "Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God" (I Corinthians 6:9-10). It doesn't mean you can't leave sin, but you can't worship God while dropping your pants. "What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?" (Romans 6:1-2).

You say you regret your sins after you have accomplished what you set out to do, but at the next opportunity, you repeat your sin. It isn't what you claim that is as important as what you actually do. "You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So then, you will know them by their fruits" (Matthew 7:16-20). That is why it is repeatedly stated that we will be judged by our deeds. "But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who will render to each person according to his deeds" (Romans 2:5-6).

Repentance is not just being sorry about what you did. Sorrow triggers a desire to change, but sorrow is not a change. "For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death. For behold what earnestness this very thing, this godly sorrow, has produced in you: what vindication of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what avenging of wrong! In everything you demonstrated yourselves to be innocent in the matter" (II Corinthians 7:10-11). What you have not done is change your behavior or your attitude toward sin. Sure, you regret it after you are finished, but you continue to make excuses to do it one more time. You have to get serious about changing yourself.

"But if the wicked man turns from all his sins which he has committed and observes all My statutes and practices justice and righteousness, he shall surely live; he shall not die.  All his transgressions which he has committed will not be remembered against him; because of his righteousness which he has practiced, he will live. "Do I have any pleasure in the death of the wicked," declares the Lord GOD, "rather than that he should turn from his ways and live?"" (Ezekiel 18:21-23).

I don't know why you let your desires to control your life, so I can't suggest what you need to change to get control over yourself. However, it is critical that you do change.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email