THE DANGERS OF STRAYING

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In Christ, Mark

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

A person who strays from home is like a bird that strays from its nest.

Proverbs 27:8 (NLT)

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Do some research into the matter of infidelity in relationships and I think you’ll be concerned over the state of our society today. Whether talking about violating a mate’s trust in marriage or in committed relationship, it’s a major issue today, more so than ever before.

So why do people do this? Why have we gotten to the place where someone feels it’s perfectly fine to cheat on someone they profess to love?

The answer is similar to any other number of sins we talk about. For the root cause of people failing and falling into transgression is that they have failed to seek the Lord and His righteousness. Void of guidance in how to live right, people are ripe for Satan’s picking when it comes to falling into temptation.

Of course, the matter of disobedience and unfaithfulness started back with the first man and woman, Adam and Eve. That first fall in the garden came when the first couple chose to pursue their own desires and eat of the forbidden fruit, turning their backs on the God who had made them. Unfortunately, unfaithfulness and non-comformity became a part of human DNA from that point on and we’re still struggling with it today, especially in the matter of relationships.

Of interest, we see in today’s proverb how God’s word touches on the matter of commitment and the dangers associated with straying from them. Let’s look at his words now:

A person who strays from home is like a bird that strays from its nest. Proverbs 27:8 (NLT)

A bird in its nest is safe and secure in the home it carefully constructed, a home where it will hopefully lay eggs and raise its young. As long as the bird stays close to its nest, it can remain safe as will the eggs it lays or eventually the baby birds that hatch from those eggs. But of a bird strays away and leaves the nest unattended, a number of bad things could happen. The parent bird might be injured or attacked in some way to the place where they will not be able to return to their nest and unattended to, the little birds could starve to death or fall prey to some form of predator. Bad things happen when the bird strays.

Compare this to a person who chooses to stray away from their home. Maybe they meet someone new and choose to enter into an affair with them while the mate who loves and relies on them is at home, minding the nest. Maybe they choose to just leave all together and abandon their home, choosing to detach themselves from those who care about them in search of a life that better meets their desires. Regardless of the reason, except for instances where an abusive relationship exists at home, a person who strays from home displays a selfishness and self centeredness in their actions that is completely counter to the Lord’s commands and expectations. Typically, they are so focused on their own desires that they fail to show concern or care for the feelings of anyone else they are affecting.

Consider how this contrasts from the Lord who made us and cares for us. For the Lord is committed to us and the hope we have in life today only comes because He was willing to surrender and sacrifice His life so we could live, not just today but forever more. What if the Lord would have decided to stray from us? What if He would have chosen to pursue His desires over the need to save us? Where would we be today if that happened?

Friends, we have an obligation to remain faithful to the people the Lord places in our lives to love and care for. Straying from those obligations results in a destructiveness where no one comes out unscathed. Not the perpetrator, not the victims. Everyone loses when infidelity and selfishness happens.

My prayer is that we all keep this in the forefront as we are immersed in a world that seems to paint illicit behavior as somehow appropriate and acceptable. Thanks be to the Lord that He holds us to standards that will place us not of the world and its ways while we’re in it. We only need to follow His will and way and not our own.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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