An affair! That’s what our sexually sophisticated culture would call it. Sounds a little nicer than adultery, doesn’t it? But by whatever name we call it, the Bible tells us the results are always the same: DEVASTATION and DEATH!
Read: Provers 7:21-22
(Message)
“Soon the Seductress has him eating out of her hand, bewitched by her honeyed speech. Before you know it, he’s trotting behind her, like a calf led to the butcher shop.”
Nothing tears up a marriage and rips apart a family and violates the individual more than sexual immorality. So much pain and so many long-lasting effects result when an individual makes a decision to step outside the bounds of God’s plan for sexual enjoyment within marriage for a few fleeting moments of self-gratification. The problem is, that fleeting moment of pleasure always turns to regret, sooner or later.
Several years ago a letter printed in the Denver Post written to Ann Landers caught my attention for the simple reason that someone was willing to publicly deal with the pain their decision to commit adultery caused a host of other people. In this woman’s letter, she describes the loss of her family and the eventual breaking off of the affair. And then she ends her letter with these words:
“To my child, my ex-husband, my ex-lover’s wife and children, and all my family members who were hurt by the breakup of my marriage, I would like to say: I’m sorry your lives got screwed up by my emotional immaturity. Living the rest of my life intelligently is the only atonement I can make.”
Solomon warns of the devastating effects of pursuing sexual pleasure apart from God’s design throughout Proverbs, and especially here in chapter 7. He says that anyone who gets involved in sexual impurity needs to understand that you might as well put a gun to your head and pull the trigger. (Proverbs 7: 13, 21-23, 27) It is that serious.
Now as we consider Solomon’s warning, this needs to be understood: Sex is not dirty, and God is not against sexual fulfillment, as some would suggest. The truth is, God wants you to have a great sex life. As a matter of fact, he would be very pleased if your sex life sizzles. He created you with a sex drive, and within the confines of marriage has provided a way for men and women to have this amazingly powerful and important need met.
But God does sets sexual standards for us and exhorts us to adhere to them, not because he is a cosmic killjoy, but because he knows of the consequences of cause and effect relationships, and has therefore established these sexual rules to keep us from harming ourselves—and others.
The bottom line is this: Developing and demonstrating wisdom, discipline and purity in the area of our sexuality is one of the most basic courses of life’s curricula that we must master. Doing so will keep us out of the ditch of devastation throughout the course of our lives.
You may never be noted in life for being brilliant, but if you were to choose one area to be bright in, above all the rest, this ought be the one: Determine to stay sexually pure! That’s a pretty smart thing to do.
“Purity is the beginning of all passion. Thus, faithful marriage is the only guarantee of unbridled sexual pleasure.” ~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Your Assignment, Should You Choose To Accept It:
What are you doing to build “moral fences” in your life—sexual boundaries that you will not cross, or allow someone or something else to cross. Make a list (or develop a list if you don’t have one) of your non-negotiables that help you to maintain your sexual purity, e.g., refusing to watch movies with sexually explicit scenes, spending time alone with a person of the opposite sex to whom you are not married, using Internet filter software to help prevent the surfing of pornographic websites on your computer, etc.
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