September 7th
23 For this command is a lamp, this teaching is a light, and correction and instruction
are the way to life,
24 keeping you from your neighbor’s wife, from the smooth talk of a wayward woman.
25 Do not lust in your heart after her beauty or let her captivate you with her eyes.
26 For a prostitute can be had for a loaf of bread, but another man’s wife preys on your very life.
27 Can a man scoop fire into his lap without his clothes being burned?
28 Can a man walk on hot coals without his feet being scorched?
29 So is he who sleeps with another man’s wife; no one who touches her will go unpunished.
30 People do not despise a thief if he steals to satisfy his hunger when he is starving.
31 Yet if he is caught, he must pay sevenfold, though it costs him all the wealth of his house.
32 But a man who commits adultery has no sense; whoever does so destroys himself.
33 Blows and disgrace are his lot, and his shame will never be wiped away.
34 For jealousy arouses a husband’s fury, and he will show no mercy when he takes revenge.
35 He will not accept any compensation; he will refuse a bribe, however great it is.
Proverbs 6:23-35 NIV
Sexual sin is a powerful form of evil that deeply affects our spirit, soul and body. In the above passage, Solomon discusses adultery, which can mean physical or spiritual adultery. Spiritual adultery occurs when we turn from God to embrace something as an idol. The adulteress can be a person, a porn picture, a computer simulation or anything that entices us to sin. Whether we’re married or single, in Christ we are married to God and obligated to remain faithful by not embracing any evil.
For example, if we idolize sex by looking at porn and masturbating, we’re giving sexual pleasure and fantasy an exalted place in our thoughts. That exalted place should normally only be occupied by God, as we are called to fix our eyes and thoughts on Jesus (Hebrews 12:1-2, Colossians 3:1-2). God has given us sex as a special gift to be enjoyed within the bond of marriage. He never intended for us to use it like a drug or to place our hopes and dreams in it.
Sexual sin is like the adulteress who stalks us and tries to catch us in a weak moment. Just as Potiphar’s wife caught Joseph (Genesis 39:12), sex sin desires to lay hold of us and lead us to destruction. It wants to devour our lives like pieces of food. It is like a fiery coal that burns us if we embrace it. It not only burns us, but also our clothes. It destroys our covering of God’s righteousness that we have through faith in Jesus. It leaves us naked and vulnerable to follow-on attacks from the evil one.
The Amplified Bible says that adulterer will be “tortured with evil consequences and just retribution” for his sin (29). It is not God who tortures us when we go astray into sex sin, but rather, it is the evil that we bring on ourselves. The torture often comes in the form of sinful thoughts and images that flood our minds at the most inappropriate times. Once our minds have been corrupted like this, it is a challenge to regain purity.
Our best protection from the snare of sex sin is to keep God’s commands before our eyes and continually load them into our minds (Psalm 119:9-11). His commands are lamps that light the path of life. In conjunction with the Holy Spirit, they will keep us from the lure of the sexual sin and those who promote it. They will help us recognize deceptive flattery of the Seductress/Seductor.
We must also exercise our God-given dominion over our bodies by making right choices like controlling our eyes, arresting sinful thoughts and focusing on Christ. Such actions will minimize the possibility of our own desires dragging us away and enticing us to sin (James 1:14-15).
If you have already been caught in the snare, there is hope for regaining purity. With Man, this may seem impossible, but with God, all things are possible! Please visit our study Freedom Journey for help in getting started.
Questions for further thought:
How does sexual sin “prey upon” our life?
What does it mean to allow someone or something to captivate your eyes? (1 Corinthians 6:11-13)
Sexually speaking, who is the only person whose love should captivate us? (Proverbs 5:15-23)
Prayer:
“Lord God, Thank you for the gift of sex and marriage. I pray for protection and discernment concerning the many traps the enemy lays for me in the area of sexual sin. I confess any areas of spiritual or physical adultery to you now:_____________(specify). Please forgive me for forsaking you. I draw near to you now through the blood of Jesus, which cleanses my conscience from sin. I reaffirm my devotion and submission to you as part of your holy bride. Please revive my conviction of sin, righteousness and judgment through the Holy Spirit. Please lead me in the path of purity today. Thank you, Father! I praise you, in Jesus’ name, Amen”