WARNING
READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED...
THE FOLLOWING IS AN INCOMPLETE LIST of what you have in store after your immorality is found out.
· Your mate will experience the anguish of betrayal, shame, rejection, heartache, and loneliness. No amount of repentance will soften those blows.
· Your mate can never again say that you are a model of fidelity. Suspicion will rob her or him of trust.
· Your escapade(s) will introduce to your life and your mate’s life the very real probability of a sexually transmitted disease.
· The total devastation your sinful actions will bring to your children is immeasurable. Their growth, innocence, trust and healthy outlook on life will be severely and permanently damaged.
· The heartache you will cause your parents, your family, and your peers is indescribable.
· The embarrassment of facing other Christians, who once appreciated you, respected you, and trusted you, will be overwhelming.
· If you are engaged in the Lord’s work, you will suffer immediate loss of the support of those with whom you worked.
· Your fall will give others license to do the same.
· The inner peace you enjoyed will be gone.
· You will never be able to erase the fall from your (or others’) mind. This will remain indelibly etched on your life’s record, regardless of your later return to your senses.
· The name of Jesus Christ, whom you once honored, will be tarnished, giving the enemies of the faith further reason to sneer and jeer.
AND IN CASE YOU NEED A REMINDER that God is serious about fidelity, I ask you to consider this true story. It could save you from some tragedy that could be just around the corner. The names are fictitious, but the story is true.
Clara and Chester's twenty-eight-year-old marriage was a good one. Not the most idyllic, but good. By now they had three grown children who loved them dearly. They were also blessed with sufficient financial security to allow them room to dream about a retirement home, so they began looking for one. A widower we'll call Sam was selling his place. They liked it a lot and they returned home to talk and to make their plans. Months passed.
Last fall Clara told Chester she wanted a divorce. He went numb. After all these years, why? How could she deceive him? How could she have been nursing such a scheme while they were looking at a retirement home? She said she hadn't been . . . not for that long. Actually, this was a recent decision now that she had found another man. Who? Clara admitted it was Sam, the owner of the house they were considering. She had inadvertently run into him several weeks after they had discussed the sale. They had a cup of coffee together; later the next week they went out to dinner. For several weeks they had been seeing each other privately and were now sexually involved. Since they were now "in love," there was no turning back. Not even the kids, who hated the idea, could dissuade their mother.
On the day Clara was to leave, Chester walked through the kitchen toward the garage. Realizing Clara would be gone when he returned, he hesitated, "Well, hon I guess this is the last time . . ." and his voice dissolved as he broke into sobs. She felt awkward, so she hurriedly got her things together, backed out of the driveway, and never looked back. She drove north to meet Sam. Less than two weeks after she moved in with her new lover, Sam was seized with a heart attack and lingered a few hours. The following morning Sam died.
When it comes to morality, God is serious . . . as serious as a heart attack.
I have said for years that If God moved that swiftly in every case, most folks I know would think again before they started an affair. If God moved now like He did in the days of Ananias and Sapphira, I wonder if you'd have to build a morgue in the basement of every church.
--C.S.
Ephesians 4:17-19 17This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind,
18Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart:
19Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.
8 comments:
Question #1. Do God recognized/acknowledged the infidelity of an unbeliever? It didn't mention in the story whether they are believer or not.
Question #2. If a believer caught with infidelity, is it necessary that his/her infidelity should be brought to the congregation of the church?
hi jim,
Q1.A. Do God recognized/acknowledged the infidelity of an unbeliever?
A1.A. Yes, read Romans 1:18-32, Rev.20:11-15
Q1.B. It didn't mention in the story whether they are believer or not.
A1.B. It doesn't matter but the consequence shall be brought by God upon who commits it.
Q2. If a believer caught with infidelity, is it necessary that his/her infidelity should be brought to the congregation of the church?
A2. Yes, but not always. Its Pastor's discretion. I think to protect the church and its members and family members of those committed it for further embarrassment and shame. Though the guilty party must face the congregation to ask forgiveness and to restore in the fellowship of the church. As much as possible we have to save the marriage or the family involved.
Guilty feelings should not be there after one had asked for forgiveness. After being forgiven, guilt is nagging only the lives of those who have never really repented. When one truly repents, there is a 180 degree turn from the sin (in this case adultery). If one who had committed adultery had truly repented of it, he better flee like Joseph from the wife of Potiphar, next time he gets near temptation. Where is your "utak"? if you still gets near temptation, if you really repented of it?
Sa mga nakamatang kapatid, you have to exercise brotherly love and not be judgmental (di ka Diyos oy!)kunwari "concerned" to be able to talk about a brother or a sister who had astrayed for a while or Ang taba ng pride mo!thinking you are better off than your fellow christians who have sinned). Don't you have anything better to do than to think and talk about the sins of others? And those with bloated pride must remember that sin is a sin in the eyes of God. We are all filthy rags in His eyes. Don't ever think that a liar or a proud one is better than an adulteress in the eyes of God?
We are not men pleasers here. We are God Pleasers.
God is pleased when we love each other so don't talk about brethren's sin and don't exalt yourselves.
So for someone, who is in the process of Christian purification, just continue on your quest to be a great Christian. You will bless others with the changes in your lives, and you will not stop gloriying and magnifying God's name if you continue on.
I don't think that two people who are both Christians (in and out)will commit something like this.
Kung kasama mo lagi mga polygamous or immoral baka sakaling mahawa ka.
kaya pili tayo ng kasama. kung di mo sila maiwasan, kailangan mo ng armour and arsenal. alam na ng Kristiyano to.
Dear reader,
I very much appreciate your comment. I can feel your urge about the subject matter, the story was not to condemn anyone that's why their real identity were not disclosed. It was published as an eye opener to all of us. Though the Bible has a lot of story much greater than this. We have the example of Lot having slept with his two daughters, Noah with his son, Rueben taking his father's wife, David with Bathsheba, Solomon with many wives, etc.
Why those stories written in the Bible? Bottom line there's always something to learn from other people's experience Believe me I know what I'm saying :) ...
Its true people do crazy, stupid and foolish things because they think they are in-love, but the truth of who we are and what we are, only God knows. Sometimes we do not know what we are capable of... I based my article on Colossians 3:5.
i know you are preacher and you know what you're talking about. but i was writing to people who claim to be Christians...but do not hold on to their rights as Christians.
Dear reader,
Thanks again for your comment and I think other readers may consider your comment as a reminder.
God bless...
yes, we should exercise brotherly love...least, shown even in the way we post our comments..unto edification?..but he seemed agitated and irritated? galit ata...is he?..sounds like.. :) i hope not....but he made a good point..God bless you brother!.. let us not be overtaken by too much emotion..yung tama lang..
Napakadiscerning mo brother(or sister). Medyo carried po talaga ng emotion. You are correct. I just realized i was angry to have heard people talking about a fellow Christians. They might not realize it, but they degrade themselves in front of their listeners.
btw, don't you agree, that when you are emoting what you preach, you are more effective?
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