Beware Adultery

Whom do I love: the world or the Father? As the Apostle John wrote, "If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything is the world - the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does - comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away but the man who does the will of God lives forever." 1 John 2:15-17

Can a person love both, like the old song that goes: "Torn between two lovers, feeling like a fool, loving both of you is breaking all the rules"? I used to think that it was possible to be in love with 2 persons, like the singer sang, and like most people in the world. Now I see the wisdom of Jesus' words: "No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money." Matthew 6:2-4 I agree with Anthony Loke that it is not possible to harbour two loves within our hearts.

That's why, I guess, a two-timing lover or an adulterous partner is in such a conflicted state: knowing that he or she ought to be faithful and loving to one and yet actually desiring another and hating the bond of fidelity and the one to whom it is owed.

Proverbs 5:1-23 warn of the peril of adultery, the horrible end that ensues after the delicious taste of forbidden fruit. But it is not just physical and human adultery that we need to beware of; it is actually spiritual adultery that is so closely entwined in the former and that is so much more prevalent in innumerable other forms.

Isaiah 1:21 - See how the faithful city
has become a harlot!
She once was full of justice;
righteousness used to dwell in her—
but now murderers!

Ezekiel 6:9 - Then in the nations where they have been carried captive, those who escape will remember me—how I have been grieved by their adulterous hearts, which have turned away from me, and by their eyes, which have lusted after their idols. They will loathe themselves for the evil they have done and for all their detestable practices.

Mark 8:38 - If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father's glory with the holy angels."

James 4:4 - You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.

So, whom do I really love? You know my heart, O Lord, that I am sinful and adulterous. O help me repent, and return to my first love for You. As You have warned in Revelation 2:3-5 - You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.

Jesus, be the Centre
Be my song, be my strength
Be my all in all.