Matthew 5: 28-28: “You have heard that it was said, Do not commit adultery. But I tell you, everyone who looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” (HCSB)

Jesus had some important things to say about the marriage relationship and specifically to the issue of purity in marriage. He tells us that adultery involves the mind as well as the body, and that is almost a “well, yeah” comment because when we start to think about a set of circumstances, begin to picture in our minds how nice it will be, and begin to justify the reasons for perusing it, it’s a short trip from the thought to the action. Someone recently made the statement to me, “We kept getting closer and closer to the line until one day we were doing things we never thought we would do.” Its better to stay away from the thing that tempts you, or as Dr. E.V. Hill so elegantly puts it, “If you don’t want to slip, don’t walk in slippery places.” Temptation is seductive and attractive. If it didn’t look good to us, we would not be tempted! Most people I hear about who have been in an adulterous relationship, did not intent to end up there. It started with harmless touches or comments, but temptation is a slippery place, and they began to tease and play around with it until they began to slip on that slippery place. It looked sweet and fun it the beginning, but it began to take them places they did not want to go and began a domino effect of destruction in their lives and in the lives of their family. Martin Luther wrote, “You can’t keep the birds from flying overhead, but you can keep them from making a nest in your hair.” Good looking, charming, friendly people are all around us. We are frequently in situations where a man and a woman are alone in a car or in an office, but it’s the steps we take with that situation that make the difference between walking surefooted and slipping. Marriage is the most intimate relationship between people, but marriage is hard because we are married to selfish and sinful people. But, our spouses are too! In Proverbs 6:32 Solomon says that a man who commits adultery is foolish and destructive. In Matthew 5:29-30 Jesus shows that He takes purity in marriage very seriously and tells us to deal ruthlessly with temptation. Take a moment to evaluate your relationships. Are you getting closer and closer to the line by spending time in a situation that is being destructive to your purity? Are you chasing something that seems sweet and harmless but may take you somewhere you don’t mean to go? Run away from that slippery place right now. Matthew 26:41 tells us that our flesh is weak, but Galatians 5:16 reminds us that when we walk by the Spirit we do not carry out the desires of the flesh. Lord, please give me strength to avoid the slippery places.