INNOCENT IS NOT ALWAYS INNOCENT
Thou shalt not commit adultery.
Exodus 20:14 (KJV)
Are you planting seeds to commit adultery? The synonym for adultery is cheating. Cheating means to break a rule or law for your advantage; to take something by lying; to prevent something from someone that they deserve or was expecting to get.
You have been married for years, maybe decades, and never committed the act of adultery. Be careful not to plant seeds that may bloom into an affair. Listed below can be possible precursors. On the surface, they appear to be innocent but may produce a deeper result.
• Flirting. This gesture appears harmless and innocent. However, if you are married and you’re flirting with someone other than your spouse; or if you are single and you’re flirting with a married individual, flirting is no longer harmless, and it could lead to an affair or someone being hurt. People who initiate flirting may want the other person to feel good about themselves, or to make them feel desirable. They may flirt because they receive some type of validation about who they are, they may receive a charge of excitement. Some people flirt to take advantage or to get their way. There are various reasons why a person flirts. Don’t get me wrong, flirting does not necessarily lead into an affair. However, a person cannot always know what the other person is thinking or what their intentions may be.
• The loyal listener. Do you offer an ear to a married person of the opposite sex? Listening to all of the wrongful acts of their spouse? Are you venting to a single or married woman, unrelated to you, about your wife and the problems in your marriage? Or, are you expressing to a single or married man, unrelated to you, about your husband and issues in your relationship? It may appear harmless to be a good listener or to vent to a friend. However, it is a dangerous road to travel.
• Business Affairs. Having drinks and dinner with business associates or your boss to discuss business matters is common. Keep it strictly professional. Alcohol consumption may decrease will power and increase desire. Be careful. It is an old and common cliché, superiors having affairs with the administrative assistants; or having an affair at the office because of long hours shared and common interest adapted.
• Out of Town. Business or pleasure excursions may water the seed of desire. You are in a different city or country, with enchanting scenery. Daily routines are abandoned, drinks are consumed, a sense of freedom flares. Remember, eventually, you will go home.
• Happy Hour. You have a few, stolen hours to let your hair down, before returning to children, chores and more. If you mix flirting, being a good listener with close business associates and a touch of alcohol, that may be a mixture for disaster.
• Chat Room Encounters. Today, a person can go online, enter a chat room to flirt, have cybersex, or any other type of acts, without leaving their home. Many are deceived thinking, because there is not a physical contact, no affair has taken place. Just because there is not a hotel room, dinner and drinks, you are still having an affair. And, if these acts are discovered by your partner, there may be repercussions.
Food for thought, in Matthew 5:27-28 Amplified Bible (AMP):
“You have heard that it was said, ‘YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY’; but I say to you that everyone who [so much as] looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
For the record, that goes for women, as well. If you have lusted after or desired a person in your thoughts, you have already committed adultery, in your heart. Be careful in thinking you have never committed adultery.
An innocent act may lead into a guilty pleasure.