Do Not Commit Adultery

Exodus 20:14

Cleanse Your Mind

Lord, I thank You for the security that can be experienced in the covenant of marriage. Thank You for the blessing of marriage and the fulfillment that is achieved when we obey Your command to be faithful to our spouse. Lord, deliver our nation and especially Your people from the destruction that follows a complacency concerning adultery.

Hear God's Word

God desired for His people to live in sexual purity. Therefore He instructed them to maintain a covenant in marriage that would be free from sexual immorality. God was not instructing His people to practice celibacy but to remain faithful to their covenants.

No other covenant in life is as closely related to God’s covenant with us as the one of marriage. God uses the marriage covenant to parallel His relationship with His people. When they left Egypt they made a commitment to follow God and to obey His leadership (Exodus 19:8). Over time their determination to abide by this commitment began to weaken.

As they experienced God’s blessings they saw other opportunities, and began to entertain thoughts of spiritual adultery. Before long they were trapped in their pursuit to please and follow other gods and they abandoned their covenant with the only true God.

Understanding the intensity of this covenant helps us comprehend the weight God places on our marriage covenant. He knows that when one marriage partner commits adultery it weakens the core fiber of any intimate relationship. This fiber is trust and no intimate relationship can survive without it.

Committing adultery is more than a sexual issue. Every intimate relationship is built on a thread of trust. Although this thread can be tied together again, once it is broken its strength is diminished. It is no longer pure and unblemished. We must not ignore the value and respect that faithfulness in the marriage covenant produces.

Analyze Your Status

Have you at some time entertained thoughts of unfaithfulness in your marriage? No one who commits adultery has done so by accident. It began with an intentional thought. For some the thought was accepted and acted upon immediately while for others it occurred after a period of time. Although the consequences for the act of adultery are different than the consequences for thinking about adultery, God considers both equally dangerous (Matthew 5:28).

Jesus knew the power of the mind to produce physical experiences. What the mind can conceive the body can usually achieve. The more we entertain thoughts of adultery the more likely we are to commit the physical act of adultery. Very few, if any, can view pornographic material without acting out the activities this material promotes. Jesus taught us that committing adultery in the mind is just as sinful as committing it with our body. When we understand this principle and address it we will be far less likely to participate in the physical act.

Neutralize Your Status

Those who are faithful in their marriage covenant are those unwilling to accept thoughts of adultery. They seek freedom from these sinful patterns immediately. Men and women who are obedient to this command do not allow their minds to conceive the adulterous act. With strong conviction they abort every thought that might potentially lead to an act of adultery.

In American culture adultery has not only become common place but in many circles acceptable. Both presidents and preachers have been caught in the clutches of this evil behavior. It is no longer unheard of to have a sexual therapist on national television advising married couples to sleep with other partners as a way to promote a better sexual relationship.

If sex is the ultimate goal, this philosophy might have merit, but the priority of marriage is far greater than sex. Intimacy in marriage is not produced by better sexual relations, it is built on a foundation of trust. Adultery always weakens the foundation of trust.

Glean God's Promises

The benefits for the couple willing to abandon even the thought of adultery should be obvious. The stronger our foundation of trust, the higher the level of intimacy we can achieve. Couples who find lasting fulfillment in marriage are not couples who have experimented with a variety of sexual partners but those who have shown themselves trustworthy.

When God’s people commit spiritual adultery they share their love with other gods. This naturally weakens their relationship with the true God because we cannot serve two masters (Matthew 6:24). The same principle applies in marriage. If we seek to divide our love, it is ultimately weakened and destroyed.

Expedite Your Decision

With the increased acceptance of adulterous relationships it is becoming more difficult for men and women to remain faithful in their marriage covenant. The people of God must be different. We must demonstrate in our lives the truth of God’s Word. When the world recognizes the difference God’s commands make in our lives they will be drawn to Him and His ways.

Renew your commitment to marriage and renew your determination to abandon even the thought of an adulterous relationship. Begin developing a foundation of truth that will lift you to new heights in your marriage relationship. When we obey His commands God will insure we achieve the highest level of fulfillment in our marriage relationship.


Study Helps

1. Why is adultery more than a sexual issue?

 

2. What actions should we take to obey this command?

 

3. What benefits does God give those who obey this command?

 

 
 
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March 9, 2010