ME-ssentials – Adulterous – Day Twenty-Five
ESSENTIALS for Me NOT to Be: Adulterous
September 25th, 2021
What’s your ESSENTIAL?
Essential: absolutely necessary; indispensable; the essence of a thing; inherent and intrinsic, vital
Just as there are so many ESSENTIALS for me to be, there are just as many ESSENTIALS for me NOT to be. Let’s explore those the other half of this month!
James 4:4-8, ‘You have become spiritual adulterers who are having an affair, an unholy relationship, with the world. Don’t you know that flirting with the world’s values places you at odds with God? Whoever chooses to be the world’s friend makes himself an enemy of God! Does the Scripture mean nothing to you that says, “The Spirit that God breathed into our hearts is a jealous Lover who intensely desires to have more and more of us?” But He continues to pour out more and more grace upon us. For it says, “God resists you when you are proud but continually pours out grace when you are humble.” So then, surrender to God. Stand up to the devil and resist him and he will flee in agony. Move your heart closer and closer to God, and He will come even closer to you. But make sure you cleanse your life, you sinners, and keep your heart pure and stop doubting.’ (TPT)
That’s invasive. When someone says the word ‘affair’, I automatically conjure up an image of a man and woman sneaking off in hiding to a clandestine rendezvous in gloomy shadows with voices and actions whispered and muffled and secretive. I picture a private investigator like debuted on “Cheaters” hiding behind a trash dumpster or peeking in windows, gathering the scoop for the suspicious and about-to-be smarter significant other. The almost jilted doesn’t have a clue what cost that little liaison just summed up.
But our brother James warns of what might be an even more painful affair; you know, the unholy relationship with the world. Invasive because we are all adulterers then and guilty of an affair. We dance with the world and hide in the shadows, choose it’s lustrous offers like stolen moments with a forbidden lover, and this is far more destructive because it is the decimation of our very soul. To be friends with the world means being an enemy of God, and whoa, that pricked me in a sensitive spot. For so long, I was enamored by the world. I played in it, reveled in my life in the midst of it; I loved worldly things. But as I fall deeper in love with Jesus, I have to be honest with myself and say it is either one or the other; I can’t love both, have both. Just as we are not allowed or able to have, nor should we even want, two or more carnal, intimate relationships, likewise we cannot carry on with the world if our hearts belong to Jesus. If we long for Jesus, we cannot lust after things of the flesh. How impactful for me to be convicted that if am in love with things of this life than I am guilty of an unholy relationship that dishonors my Father, and that is a behavior I must change!
