Friday, March 2, 2007

How far for married folks...

"You shall not commit adultery." (Exodus 20:14, NIV)

Several years ago, I learned of a church that was nearly torn apart because the pastor encouraged opposite sex prayer partnerships. Several illicit affairs started from this crazy practice. Intense prayer is way too intimate a practice for people of the opposite sex to share privately, one-on-one.

Married folks, God’s instructions to you are plain and simple.

1 Corinthians 6:18, "Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body." (NIV)

And Ephesians 5:3, "But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality..." (NIV)

The writer of Hebrews in Hebrews 13:4 agrees: "Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer..." (NIV)

God’s standard for all of us is not even a hint of infidelity. You don’t go out to dinner alone with a member of the opposite sex who’s not your spouse. You don’t privately share intimate details of your life with a member of the opposite sex who’s not your spouse. You keep your touch of others to a minimum and all of it appropriate and above board.

You worked hard to stay pure before marriage. Work just as hard to stay pure now. Till death do you part, not even a hint of adultery.

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