PROTECT YOURSELF FROM ADULTERY
From the very beginning, God warned His people about the dangers of going astray (5:12).
It was a very real possibility then, and it remains so today.
Know that when you find yourself connecting with another person who starts becoming, in even the smallest way, a substitute for your marital partner, you’ve already started to travel a dangerous road.
Emotional adultery occurs when we reserve an inappropriate place in our hearts for any person other than our spouse.
So, how do you protect yourself and your marriage?
Here are some principles many have found helpful:
1. Know your boundaries.
Put fences around your heart and protect the sacred ground reserved only for your spouse.
Barbara and I are careful to share our deepest feelings, needs, and difficulties only with each other.
For us, this is a non-negotiable boundary.
2. Realize the power of the eyes.
The eyes are the windows of your soul.
Pull the shades down if you sense someone is pausing a little too long in front of those windows!
Good eye contact may be necessary for effective communication, but you must reserve that deep type of look for your mate.
3. Beware of isolation and concealment.
One strategy of the enemy is to isolate you from your spouse by tempting you to keep secrets from your mate.
Barbara and I both realize the dangers of concealment in our marriage.
We work hard at bringing things out into the open and discussing them.
Our closets are empty.
4. Extinguish any chemical reactions that may have begun.
You must quickly end any friendship with the opposite sex that seems to have begun meeting needs that your mate alone should be meeting.
A simple rule of chemistry is this: to stop a chemical reaction, remove one of the elements.
It may feel painful or embarrassing at first, but it doesn’t inflict nearly the pain that comes when temptation gives birth to sin.
5. Ask God to remind you how important it is to fear Him.
The fear of God has turned me from many a temptation.
It’s one thing to think a friend might learn that I had compromised my faith; it’s quite another thing to realize that God’s throne would have a knowledge of my disloyalty to Barbara faster than the speed of light.
It has been well said that, “a secret on earth is open scandal in heaven.”
My Heavenly Father and my earthly father are there right now—and the mere thought of disappointing either of them, helps keep me pure.
NOTE: This article is from the book, Family Life Marriage Bible by Dennis and Barbara Rainey.
NOTE: Daily there is a new post to help your marriage succeed.
LOVE YOUR SPOUSE 
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