Adultery has been a topic on my mind recently. I feel like many people don't fully understand what this word means both literally and biblically. If you were to look the word 'adultery' up on the online dictionary the definition would be:
Adultery
–noun, plural -ter·ies.
voluntary sexual intercourse between a married person and someone other than his or her lawful spouse.
This is the definition all young adults are programmed to remember and to learn. We are told not to have sex before marriage but we disregard it. We are told if we are having sex before marriage then to at least not cheat on your boyfriend or girlfriend. And the biggest rule about having sex is to especially not have sex with a married man or woman. Just because this is being told to us does not mean we listen. These rules go for people of any age, any race and of any sexual preference.
Biblically 'Adultery' is exactly the definition in the dictionary but it is more then that. Lets see what it tells us adultery is in the New Testament.
Matthew 5:27-30 (New International Version)
Adultery
27"You have heard that it was said, 'Do not commit adultery.'[a] 28But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. 30And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.
The first time I read this entry I completely disregarded what it meant. I was a new Christian and only 18 years of age. I was already having sex by this time but deep in my heart I knew that this was something God didn't want me to do. I was raised Muslim the majority of my life until I was 15 and my very best friend at the time committed suicide (or so we were told). After this happened on June 4, 2001 my life changed drastically. I realized that I wasn't happy with the way my life was going and that I didn't have a high power that i truly believed in. I needed more out of life. After this tragic moment in my life I thought I found love and at that time in my life I felt like as long as you at least fall in love then sex must be okay to do. I was dating an atheist and the more I spent time with him the more I knew there had to be more to this life. I started to go to youth group with friends to coop with my best friends death and it started to make things better.
At the age of 17 I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior even though my family didn't believe it. With 8 sisters and 4 brothers none of them believed as I did. None of my family practiced Christianity faithfully. Some said they were Christian but didn't go to church themselves. I was all alone to make this new change in my life work for me. Before I went away to college I decided that I am better by myself and so I went to Niagara University in 2004 single but still holding on to my past love. God wanted to teach me and mold me into the Christian I was born to be. So slowly he would show me through flings and lustful habits I had that I was more than what I thought of myself.
Lucky for me I was receptive enough to see when God was speaking to me and I found a church after visiting several in the Niagara Falls NY area. I was baptized on March 19, 2006. Weeks before I was baptized I finally got over the nasty habit of coursing in every sentence I spoke. And that was the beginning of the purity phase God had in store for me. I was a lustful creature and God is still working on me. But now I know the different between what non Christians think of adultery and what believe of Christ think of adultery.
Read more about adultery in the old testament. Read Numbers 5:12-31 where they talk about the 'Test for an Unfaithful Wife' and learn the ways they dealt with a jealous husband. Learn about King David and his struggles with adultery in 2Samuel 11-12. The story in which King David saw a beautiful woman, Bathsheba, and lusted after her. He was the King and the King can have anything he wishes. He wanted her so he slept with her and she became pregnant. Chapter 11-12 talks about how King David tries to get Bathsheba's husband Uriah to come home from the war and sleep with his wife so that the paternity of the baby wouldn't be suspected anyone besides Uriah himself. When Uriah doesn't fall for the trick (because he is a loyal soldier and wouldn't go home to a warm home and cooked food while his fellow soldiers are out in the trenches not with their families) he decides in Chapter 12 he will have Uriah killed and have Bathsheba all to himself. The last line in 2Samuel 11:27 says, "But the thing David had done displeased the Lord."
One of the best things about having a forgiving and perfect God like we do and a Savior named Jesus Christ that died for our sins, is that when we repent we are forgiven. Kind David was confronted by Prophet Nathan about a man who did the exact same things King David did and asked him what should happen to this man. King David told him he should be put to death and Nathan told him this man is you. The power King could have laughed in his face or killed him on the spot but instead in 2Samuel 12:13 King David said, "I have sinned again the Lord."
Nathan replied, "The Lord has taken away our sin. You are not going to die. But because by doing this you have made he enemies of the Lord show utter contempt, the son born to you will die."
So the reason I wanted to share this with all of you is because you committee adultery just by lusting after someone that isn't yours and by having sex with a married person. So I would refer to Matthew 5:29 that states, "If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell."
Be aware of the things you do, what your friends and loved ones do and speak out about both your sins and theres. God wants us to be able to talk to each other of our struggles, we all fall short of the Glory of God. Not one is worse then the other, we are all sinners. Confess your sins to your Lord and Savior but it is also healthy to share it with those you trust as well. Praise God at every chance and spread love to ever soul you come in contact with. Follow God's commandments to the best of your ability and when you sin confess them and ask God for forgiveness. We are here to help each other, please don't let your pride get the best of you. The devil is a liar and our God is the beginning and the end, Alpha and Omega. Never forget our Mighty God because he will never forget you.
All praises and glory be to God.
