The Blemished Bride Spiritual
The Blemished Bride
Spiritual Adultery
“HUSBANDS, LOVE YOUR WIVES, EVEN AS CHRIST ALSO LOVED THE CHURCH, AND GAVE HIMSELF FOR IT” (Ephesians 5:25). Many times the Bible compared the husbandwife relationship to the relation between Jesus and the Church. Christ considered the love and harmony between husband and wife so great that He used it to compare His love for us. Of course, Christ loves the Church far more than husband and wife could even begin to love each other. But no greater love was there on earth for Christ to compare His love than that of the union between man and woman.
The union of man and woman is strong. If the marriage is centered around Christ, it can endure all things. But there is one thing that will try a marriage more than any other and that is the sin of unfaithfulness of one mate against the other mate. That is the sin of adultery. It is the one thing that seems impossible to forgive and even harder to forget. Only through Christ can this sin truly be forgiven and forgotten. From a legalistic point of view adultery would seem like a very simple thing to over look. After all, no one is hurt. There is no physical damage. There is nothing physically taken from anyone. Still, this sin tears both sides of a marriage. The one who commits adultery is eaten up with guilt. The other one feels defiled by a foreign entity being in union with that which is theirs, and theirs alone. Other things can be forgiven with ease, but in the case of adultery, only in the name of Jesus can all things truly be forgiven. It is probably the worst sin we could commit against our mate. In the same sense, Spiritual Adultery is probably the worst sin we could do to our God.
Spiritual Adultery? What is that? I’ve never read anything about Spiritual Adultery in my Bible, Sure you have. Exodus 20:3…”Thou shalt have no other God before me.” It’s the first commandment. Is it the first because it just happens to be first? Maybe, but I seriously doubt it.
“For thou shalt worship no other god: for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God ” (Exodus 34 ; 14).
Just as a husband or wife is jealous when their mate commits adultery, so is our God jealous when we commit SPIRITUAL ADULTERY. Just as we grieve our mate by this act, so do we grieve God.
Spiritual Adultery is putting something above God. We all know that much. But we need to dig a little deeper. Go back to the husband-wife relationship for a minute. When you commit adultery in the flesh, you don’t necessarily put someone else before your mate. But, if only for a few minutes, you do put someone on the same level or in place of your mate and by the very act of adultery you allow someone else to take care of the needs that your mate has vowed their life to fill. This is the very reason your mate will be so hurt by the, act.
In the same respect, Spiritual Adultery is not only putting something above GOD, it is also putting something or someone in addition to, even with, in opposition to, or in place of God. Reading the horoscope out of the morning paper is Spiritual Adultery. It is having a god in addition to your one God. You might say, “I really don’t believe in it. I just read it for fun.” This is probably very true. You don’t really believe in it. But how do you think God feels when He sees you bringing a pagan god into your life?
“It’s just for fun, God. I really don’t believe in it” Go out and commit adultery in the flesh, then come home, smile at your mate and say, “Honey, I just committed adultery, but don’t worry about it. I really didn’t mean it. You know how it is, I just did it for fun.” It will be a small consolation that you “just did it for fun.” The fact remains that you defiled your body and your relationship which belongs to your spouse. No matter why it is done, their heart will still be broken, That’s just how God must feel.
Your mate might say in tears, “I’m a failure. I can’t fulfill all of your needs. Am I not good enough to do that