Effects of Adultery

Day 5 – The Effects of Adultery

It’s been said that being the spouse of someone who has committed adultery against you can be more painful than losing that spouse to death. Death has a way of feeling totally out of your control. But adultery seems to cut at you in unimaginable ways. If a spouse is cheated on they can easily feel broken, abandoned, unloved, afraid, angry, and a whole host of other emotions.  On day 5 of 31 days of wisdom, I’d like to shed some light on the other side of adultery. We can imagine all too well how one can be devastated by being cheated on, but what consequences does the person committing adultery experience? Proverbs 5:7-14 paints a very real picture. It says,

“Therefore hear me now, my children, and do not depart from the words of my mouth.8 Remove your way far from her, and do not go near the door of her house,9 Lest you give your honor to others, And your years to the cruel one; 10 Lest aliens be filled with your wealth, and your labors go to the house of a foreigner;11 And you mourn at last, when your flesh and your body are consumed,12 And say: “How I have hated instruction, And my heart despised correction! 13 I have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, Nor inclined my ear to those who instructed me! 14 I was on the verge of total ruin, in the midst of the assembly and congregation.”

Starting at verse 9 the first effect we see is you give your honor to others. Honor is anything that brings status, dignity, and respect to you. It may feel good at the moment, but when you give into adultery you lose honor and respect. In that same verse it says you lose time. You lose years to the cruel one. In other words, Satan robs you, delays you, and sets you back. Adultery takes you off course and can rob you of the brightness of your destiny.

Going further in verse 10, we see that your wealth is diminished. I don’t need to list names but if you think of the many people we know personally or in the celebrity world, we can quickly see how their wealth was taken. Also in that same verse the things you worked for are given to people who have no relationship with you. Others will enjoy the benefits of your labor.

Thirdly, verse 11 points out that it causes you to mourn. It eats away at you and puts you in a regretful mindset.

Adultery is painful! If you are married, remain faithful to your spouse. It really ends up working better for you. But if you feel unhappy in your marriage, the worse thing you can do is do nothing. Seek wise counsel, speak to a trusted minister, ask for help. Your marriage is worth protecting. With God’s grace, you can preserve it.

Love,

Ernst