“Life is short have an affair.” This is the slogan of a website that encourages cheating. Ashley Madison is an online dating service for married couples who want to cheat. They promise security of details so that their partner does not find out. The problem was they were hacked into a few years ago and the hackers were threatening to expose the details of their 32 million subscribers if they didn’t take the website down.
It seems like our culture is determined to see our relationships/ marriages fail. From music with lyrics on infidelity to TV shows that highlight cheating to websites such as Ashley Madison. Where can you go to find healthy, long term relationships?
Sometime ago I received a message from a friend in the USA. She had come across a women’s magazine that had an article on 5 ways to cheat on your partner. Why would a magazine produced by women be encouraging their readers to cheat?? Have these women never experienced the pain & heartbreak of a partner who has been unfaithful???
Cheating is nothing new though. In Genesis 39 we read of Potiphar’s wife who was willing to cheat. A disloyal, demanding and vicious woman tried to corner Joseph one day saying, “lie with me!” He knew better and fled the scene. Her pride was ruined so she made up a lie telling her husband that he had tried to rape her so Joseph was thrown into prison.
There are many reasons that cause us to stray in our relationships. I think this verse from Jeremiah 17:9 sums it up. “The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?” We need to protect our hearts at all costs.
The great news though is that there is forgiveness and restoration. We see this in John 8 with the woman caught in the act of adultery. The Pharisees dragged her before Jesus, hoping he would stone her. His response was one of compassion & forgiveness, but at the same time urging her to change her ways and sin no more. While Jesus does forgive, the consequences to our actions can be long lasting.
Can we disrupt a culture of unfaithfulness? Our young people need to see marriages that last the distance, marriages that do whatever it takes to stay together. The church must offer a different message to the world. This is a big area that we need to disrupt if their is to be hope for our communities! May the Lord help us!!