Every month, Google sends me and e-mail that lists what people type in the search bar that leads them to our site. It has never failed over the last year that in the top three results is the question, “Will God forgive me for sexting?” Actually, for most of the last 12 months, this search has been the number one traffic driver to our site.
So why did I type this out first instead of just giving you the answer? Because I want you to know you’re not alone. You may feel that way- like you’re the only Christian girl who has ever given into the temptation or felt the pressure to sext. I assure you, you are not, after all the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 10:13, “No temptation has overtaken you, except what is common to mankind,” and I can tell you, sexual temptation is allllllll too common. If you’d actually like to see the statistics on teens and sexing, click here.
The short answer on sexting
The short answer is YES. God will absolutely forgive you for sexing. After all 1 John 1:9 (ESV) states, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” However, I implore you, do not exit out of this post and think it is just that simple. Please keep reading.
Now, you ended up searching for an answer to this question becuase you know it is a sin. Sexting degrades the body God has given you down to just a sack of parts and it is not treating your body like the temple of the Holy Spirit as 1 Corinthians 6:18-20 commands, “Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.”
So, what do you do now?
Why do you want forgiveness?
In my decade of experience working with teenagers, there are two main reasons they would ask this question:
- They were truly upset and wanted to repent and turn from their sin and actually stop sexting. They wanted forgiveness becuase they knew they had sinned against their savior who loves them and want to continue living a life that honors God to the best of their ability.
- They wanted to use the forgiveness as a license to continue in sin. Their attitude was flippant and along the lines of, “Oh, He’ll forgive me? Good! Then I’ll just keep doing it because he will just forgive me anyways.”
Now, you really need to take a moment and think about which person you are. If you are person number two, you really need to evaluate whether you are in the faith, becuase when we submit our lives to the authority of Jesus Christ, we can’t continue in unrepentant sin (See Romans 6 and 1 John 1:5-10). If you are person number one, your heart is in the right place.
Repentance, Forgiveness, & Resources
To reiterate what I stated above, God will forgive you for sexting. You need to pray for His forgiveness and repent, meaning to turn from, your sin of sexting. To help yourself to not sext again, you need to tell a friend or trusted adult (like James 5:16 says) about the problem and make them your accountability partner. If you’re not sure what that is, click here to watch our vlog on it. Letting people know you struggle and asking for them to help you stay out of sin is of great benefit to you! I know from experience!
Now for a few resources–>
If you want to read more about the topic of sexting, check out our posts below…
Books that may help
- So, You Think You’re Ready to Date? – This is a book I wrote in 2017 and updated in 2020. It lays a biblical foundation of romantic relationships and it FULLLLLLLLLL of information, including sexting. Click here or the title to learn more. Seriously…click it! 😉
- God’s Not Gray: Biblical Truth in a Society of Blurred Lines – This book is geared toward high school and college students to make sure they truly understand basic biblical concepts including: sin, salvation, tolerance, sex and the hook up culture, identity, and the Christian mission. If you were person number 2 in the scenario above, you should get this one.
In closing
I hope this answered the question that brought you to our site. Please feel free to share with anyone else you think may need it. Thanks for reading!
-Sarah
More about our Ministry
At Transformed4More, our goal is to help those who want to grow in their relationship with God, and we do this in two main ways:
- The first is by providing resources. We have our own and ones we recommend. Click here or the graphic below to see them.
- Another way is through social media. We are most active on Instagram, but we update and connect on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, and YouTube as well!
- We also have a newsletter we send out every few months with updates as well! You can join it by clicking here.
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