The Time-Dilation Effects of Sin

Suggested Reading: Proverbs 5:1-14

While Gene Roddenberry is best known for creating Star Trek, he was also involved in another science fiction series called Andromeda. The premise of Andromeda was that during the last battle of a great intergalactic republic against its enemies, the last battleship from that republic got caught in the time dilation effect of a black hole, emerging hundreds of years later when the republic was nothing but a memory. The ship never actually got sucked into the black hole, it was just too close to the black hole and had to deal with the consequences of being too close.

In a similar fashion, the author of Proverbs understood that a person doesn't actually have to get caught in sin to suffer for it. Speaking about avoiding the immoral woman, the author warned, Stay away from her! Don’t go near the door of her house! If you do, you will lose your honor and will lose to merciless people all you have achieved (Proverbs 5:8-9, NLT).  Notice, the author didn't say, "Don't go inside her house or you will suffer." He said, don't go near the door or you will suffer. Think about that for a moment. I'm sure my wife would be glad I didn't go into the immoral woman's house, but wouldn't she still be hurt that I went to her door?

Sin may very well be about crossings lines we should never cross, but most of the time we don't suddenly appear on the other side of that line. We slowly wander towards it. And just like straying near a black hole has consequences, even if you never get caught completely,  straying too close to sin bears consequences as well.  We can betray a spouse's trust without ever crossing the "line" of infidelity. We can deceive without ever actually lying. We can harm someone's faith by looking like we're doing something wrong, even if we never technically do anything wrong.

We should never be concerned about not crossing the line. We should be concerned with maintaining our purity and integrity, which means staying as far from the line as possible. If it looks bad, if someone would misunderstand if they saw us and be hurt by it, if it would detract from building the kingdom, even if it isn't technically wrong, we should stay away from it. Don't just stay outside the house of sin. Don't go near the door.

Being Satisfied With your Doe

Suggested Reading: Matthew 5:21-32 and/or Proverbs 5:1-23

Not long ago, I was reading the Sermon on the Mount when Jesus said, "But I say, anyone who even looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart" (Matthew 5:28, NLT) and without thinking about it, I said to myself, "I guess we can't watch prime time TV." I mean, prime time television, as well as a lot of streaming programs, are designed to make men lust after women and women after men. The system is designed to have people commit adultery in their hearts.

But then I had the random thought, What does that mean about the fidelity of men who view pornography? How many times do they commit adultery per webpage? But photographs of women are not the only kind of pornography and men are not the only ones who use it.  Erotic stories and novels like some recent bestsellers are also a form of pornography. After all, is there really much difference between lusting after the form of someone on your screen or monitor and lusting after the form of someone described in words on a page?

Proverbs 5:18-19 advises us, "Let your wife be a fountain of blessing for you. Rejoice in the wife of your youth. She is a loving deer, a graceful doe. Let her breasts satisfy you always. May you always be captivated by her love" (NLT) and I think we can safely reverse that as well, warning women to be satisfied with the forms of their husbands. But can we ever rejoice in the love of our lives, can we really be captivated by the love of our spouse (or our future spouse) when our heads and hearts are filled with unrealistic, air-brushed, or word-brushed pictures of other people? Do our spouses ever have a chance when we are enthralled with these make-believe fantasies, designed by people whose goal is to hook us and keep us coming back for more, to lead us into committing adultery in our hearts over and over again just so they can make a buck? How are our spouses ever to be satisfied with us if we are responding to them as if they don't measure up to unrealistic fantasies?

Maintaining purity is about more than avoiding certain physical acts or just staying away from particular kinds of photographs, videos, or books. Purity and fidelity are about maintaining a heart that seeks God and yearns only for your spouse (or future spouse).  Anything we feed our minds and hearts that draws us toward someone or something else undermines that.