I find it somewhat … interesting that a man who married 700 wives and 300 concubines talks so passionately about the value of relationships.
Yet the words of Solomon with regard to avoiding adultery get to the heart of why it’s so important to value relationships and value faithfulness.
Look how appealing unfaithfulness is, though. Alluring images enticing men to give up heaps of money, with the promise of a good time, a night of passion or a moment of ecstasy. Rather than making the most of what you already have, you’re invited to seek solace in someone else’s arms.
It’s the preserve of some advertising gurus that they can sell anything with a woman. What it does, however, is erode the ability to value relationships. It cheapens commitment. In doing that too, it is no wonder the writer of the Proverbs describes it as taking a path down to hell.
The sound advice given on the matter is to completely avoid any hint of anything that could lead to those gruesome outcomes. To help avoid it, is to celebrate and luxuriate in what we already have. The fun of faithfulness is that there is so much to know about the wife of your youth. The more you think you know, the more things happen to make you realise there is so much more to learn.
Never taking your wife for granted, never neglecting her, never dismissing what she says, but actively engaging with who she is and what she has to offer and discovering the truth again that there is so much more to experience from her. In that truth there is also the appreciation that there is no greener grass to find elsewhere.
Indeed the truth remains if you invest your life and focus and energies in being faithful to the gifts God has given you, there will not be any room for being allured to the things that may lead to death.
In a world where fidelity is questioned, the traumatic consequences of infidelity itself supports the wisdom of the ages.
For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
C. L. J. Dryden
Life With CD 