Today’s reading is Proverbs 5 where a stern warning is given about adultery.
In this chapter King Solomon is writing to his son to tell him about the risk of the temptation of adultery and seeking temporary pleasure over the fruits of faithful marriage over one’s lifetime. This is steep contrast to what the world tells us. Sexual promiscuity is everywhere in ads, TV shows, movies, and now on social media. Satan and the world tell us to seek pleasure, you deserve it. It’s ok…just like the fruit in Genesis 3. The book of Ecclesiastes is also attributed to King Solomon and in it he also warns about seeking pleasure over what God wants.
I’ve mentioned in past writings that some years ago I had the opportunity to work with Jason Selk. Jason was a sports psychologist for professional teams and athletes and then began personal and business coaching as well. One of the things he talked about was doing a life projection when making decisions in the moment. If your goal is to get in shape and stay healthy, picture yourself 5 years from now if you don’t say yes to that workout you don’t feel like doing. And then picture yourself healthy when you say yes to that workout. One of my friends who was not a believer and now is and who is also very into personal and professional growth and books and podcasts on that topic said that pretty much every concept comes from the Bible. Well, we can see it here…
“and at the end of your life you groan,
when your flesh and body are consumed,
and you say, “How I hated discipline,
and my heart despised reproof!
I did not listen to the voice of my teachers
or incline my ear to my instructors,
I am at the brink of utter ruin
In the assembled congregation.”
Proverbs 5:11-14
Solomon is giving his son a life projection and telling him the temporary pleasure the world and Satan is telling you to chase is not worth it at the end of your life. How you feel on your deathbed about your choices and the life you lived is much more important. If you are someone who has fallen into this snare, know that there is forgiveness at the cross. Psalm 103:12 says he removes our sins as far as the east is from the rest. Read the story of the prodigal son in Luke 15. God loves and forgives you and wants you back.
Jason once told a story about a man he was coaching who struggled with his weight. They were out to dinner with a large group having a great time. After dinner the waiter came up and said he’d be right back with the dessert tray. At that point the man abruptly left and went home, despite the great time he was having. The next day, Jason asked him why he left so quickly. He said he’d done a life projection, and he didn’t like the person he saw 5 years from now if he said yes to a dessert…so he removed himself from the temptation. Not only did he do the life projection like taught here in the wisdom God gave Solomon, but he also follows what Jesus taught in Matthew 18:7-9 where he says if your eye or your foot or hand cause you to sin…remove it (not literally). Billy Graham said he would never put himself in a situation where he was alone with another woman who was not his wife.
Let us remember what God taught us in the very beginning in Genesis 2:24 and Jesus reiterated in Matthew 19:4-6..
“He answered, Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife,, and the two shall become one flesh? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefor God has joined together, let not man separate.”
