Don’t lust in your heart for her beauty or let her captivate you with her eyelashes.
For a prostitute’s fee is only a loaf of bread, but an adulteress goes after [your] very life.
Can a man embrace fire and his clothes not be burned?
Can a man walk on coals without scorching his feet?
So it is with the one who sleeps with another man’s wife; no one who touches her will go unpunished.
People don’t despise the thief if he steals to satisfy himself when he is hungry.
Still, if caught, he must pay seven times as much; he must give up all the wealth in his house.
The one who commits adultery lacks sense; whoever does so destroys himself.
Prov 6:25-32 (HCSB)
One of Satan’s greatest tactics against marriages is his fantasy-type portrayal of adultery. The adventure of seduction awakens many bored spouses. The danger provides an excitement that may have been lacking for some time in one’s marriage.
Satan is very good at showing the apparent benefits of an affair. He helps people imagine sex with another person. He provides opportunities to develop a relationship, but he fails to provide a picture of life outside of passing moments of pleasure.
A moment of pleasure in adultery will bring about a life full of pain and regret.
This passage states that an “adulteress goes after your very life.” People don’t really see the person with whom they are having a “fling” as desiring to ruin their lives. Normally, the person with whom the affair is happening seems to genuinely care for that person and builds him or her up. Make no mistake about it, adultery will ruin your life.
While a romantic encounter may feel good for a time, is it worth it to make your children have two birthday parties each year because you and your former spouse can’t be in the same room? Are you willing to lose all common friends and watch them turn against you in defense of your spouse? Is adultery worth losing all you have built with your spouse—spiritually, emotionally, and even financially?
Today, have a reality check. How would the downside of adultery not only affect you but those you love the most?
Think It Through
Conduct a personal “Marital Faithfulness Inventory.” Do you discover any areas in your life (physical, emotional, spiritual, etc.) that you or your spouse might consider lacking in faithfulness? If so, what will you do about it?
Travis Agnew serves as the Lead Pastor of Rocky Creek Church in Greenville, SC. His most recent book is Just (About) Married.
