Kristen and I will be celebrating 10 years of marriage this August, so I have had this whole marriage motif on the brain. I talked about this yesterday in service. We, as the Church, are the bride of Christ. We are married to Christ in covenant union with Him sealed by the Holy Spirit. The Spirit, as we have learned is our convincer - he makes us aware and convinces us of where we are in standing with Christ. There is never a more difficult place in a marriage than when someone is committing adultery. When someone goes outside the marriage to get a need met. That is what cheating is...getting a legitimate need met in an illegitimate way. You cheat on your spouse and yourself and the consequences are horrible; this is why God hates divorce...he knows the consequences. Truth is, we are divorced in our hearts long before we sign the papers; that is why spouses are often stunned and shocked when affairs are revealed, because they didn't realize, they didn't know the other person has turned away in their heart first. This was the accusation of Jesus in Revelation 2 to the Ephesian Church. He said he was proud of the consistency, constancy, the work, the effort, but the charge was they were slipping away. They were on the verge of spiritual adultery and almost divorced in their hearts from him. They had forgotten their first love. He said, go back and do what you did in the beginning. How you get there is what keeps you there. Sometimes you have to go back, back to your knees, back to prayer and fasting, back to engaging Scripture, back to the simple things. You have to go inward to solve the outward problems of your life. You have to engage your heart. It is the hardest work in the world, but it is the simplest...do what you did in the beginning. Remember the beginning and start there. The Holy Spirit will help you restore your marriage to Christ. He will bring you back from the verge of adultery and spiritual divorce. He will help you renew your vows and live the covenant relationship out to its fullest.
If you are committing adultery, repent. If you are divorced, remarry. Whatever you do, find your way back to Christ, he has never left and has been and always will be faithful. (Gal.5.23; Rev. 2)
Live Hydrated.
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