SPIRITUAL ADULTERY!

James 4:4-6 TLB

You are like an unfaithful wife who loves her husband's enemies. Don't you realize that making friends with God's enemies-the evil pleasures of this world-makes you an enemy of God? I say it again, that if your aim is to enjoy the evil pleasure of the unsaved world, you cannot also be a friend of God. [5] Or what do you think the Scripture means when it says that the Holy Spirit, whom God has placed within us, watches over us with tender jealousy? [6] But he gives us more and more strength to stand against all such evil longings. As the Scripture says, God gives strength to the humble but sets himself against the proud and haughty.


Spiritual adultery is being devoted to worldly things, seeking after feelings and flesh, instead of seeking God with our whole heart, soul, mind, and body, as stated in Matthew 6:33. It’s a term often used in religious contexts to describe the act of being unfaithful to one's spiritual beliefs or commitments. It typically refers to the idea of turning away from faith or devotion to God and instead pursuing other interests, desires, or idols that take precedence over one's spiritual relationship.

We are all guilty of spiritual adultery; we cannot love God as wholly and completely as we should and as He desires. Godliness and worldliness can't coexist, and according to Exodus 20:5, our Lord is a very jealous God, referred to as El Kanna, the husband of His people who won’t share His bride with anyone, including you, me, and the church. Spiritual adultery is simply unfaithfulness to God.

A jealous God! God the Creator is worthy of all honor from His creation, the honor and worship that He alone deserves. God will not share His bride with false gods; He will not tolerate rivalry. So, God’s jealousy shows His concern for our well-being. The believers’ relationship with the Father is likened to a marriage, with God as the husband. Our text tells us that friendship with the world is enmity with God and an “adulterous relationship.”

Unfaithfulness in a physical marriage is disastrous and breaks up the relationship; how much more, then, is spiritual unfaithfulness? The running theme of the scriptures is of God as the husband, the faithful, loving, and jealous husband who wants His bride and wife to be faithful to Him.

Spiritual adultery is an analogy to the unfaithfulness of one’s spouse: as Jeremiah 3:20 says, “‘But like a woman faithless to her lover, even so have you been faithless to me, O house of Israel,’ says the Lord.” So, when we place material possessions, wealth, or other people above our devotion to God or spiritual beliefs, we are essentially committing spiritual adultery.

The sin of adultery is the relationship with another person, not the legal husband or wife, that causes damage to the family. This is exactly how the Lord sees His children when they walk away from Him—a wandering wife that leaves her husband and goes off with another relationship. The book of Proverbs, especially chapters 5-7, warns against the adulterous and immoral woman whose character is not only shallow but evil. She is the adulterous, unfaithful wife whose restless, unstable feet do not stay at home.

The unfaithful bride flaunts her marriage vows and defies God’s law. Adultery offers only a quick but unsatisfactory pleasure. When we become unfaithful to God, we become unstable and have no anchor of godly character to direct our path.

Spiritual adultery includes any form of idolatry. In the Old Testament, the children of Israel tried to mix the worship of other gods, such as Baal, with that of God. Judges 3:7 tells us the Israelites went after other gods, the Baals and the Asheroth. Baal was the most powerful god of the Canaanites, while Asherah was a Canaanite goddess, a companion of El, the head of the Canaanite gods, whom the Israelites lusted after and committed adultery with. In doing so, Israel, like us, becomes like an adulterous wife who wants both a husband and another lover.

The person who commits spiritual adultery professes to be a Christian yet finds real love and pleasure in the things of the world. The love of the world and the love of God are direct opposites. Claiming to love God but being captivated by the love of the world is committing spiritual adultery against the Lord.

God wants to protect what is rightfully His, and He deeply desires and deserves our worship and friendship.

PRAYER: Lord, help me to be faithful to you as you are always faithful, may my devotion and affection never sway to something or someone else over you in Jesus; name, amen.

https://creators.spotify.com/pod/show/womenoflight/episodes/SPIRITUAL-ADULTRY-e2vbjvi

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