Today, marriage is not treasured the way it used to be. In fact, the book Sex in America reports that 20 percent of all women and as many as 35 percent of all men have been unfaithful in marriage. Christianity Today surveyed its readers and discovered that 23 percent of their subscribers admitted to having affairs. Can something so common be so wrong? The seventh commandment says yes, it can.
Yesterday, I returned from picking up the boys from my parents’ home in Corpus Christi. While there, I saw one of my grandfather’s old Bibles. Paw Paw would have turned 98 this coming Saturday. Interestingly, this Bible—given to him for his 55th birthday—was tattered and worn. As you see in the photo above, he had the Ten Commandments taped to the inside cover!
Paw Paw treasured his marriage. The seventh commandment cannot be obeyed merely by not doing something; instead, it is actually a command to do everything possible to enhance and uphold marriage, the most sacred and treasured of human relationships.
For Rick Shepherd’s view of the Seventh Commandment from his 2005 Bible Study entitled The Ten Commandments: The Heart of God for Every Person and Every Relationship, click here.