Like the other commandments, the 7th seems pretty straight forward doesn't it. Do not commit adultery.  I think it's appropriate to add a Nike emphasis -- Just don't Do It!  

This category of sin -- and the red flags and warning signals and sirens it sends off -- touch on a myriad of sexual sins including fornication, lust, and pornography.

Adultery in particular raises an issue close to God's heart: that is, His desire for our unadulterated and uncompromising commitment to him. How so?

Remember the prophet Hosea?  God told him to marry a prostitute.  Hosea marries Gomer, who not only bore him three children but tons of grief from her philandering and adulterous ways.  What was God's point?  Hosea's marriage represented God's relationship with his people, the nation of Israel.  Just as adultery has its insidious effects on the relationship between husband and wife, so too, the apostasy of Israel and her worship of false gods had corrupted their relationsip with God.  Israel was committing spiritual adultery.  

The antidote to such adultery is an unequivocal focus on one's personal relationship with God, taking it seriously, and giving it preeminence in one's life.  The first commandment (Thous shall have no other gods) is paramount, and when we have our primary relationship with God in order, it serves to foster our other relationships, including our marriage.  

Maybe the brokenness found in the penumbra of this commandment -- that is, lust, fornication, pornography, sexual impurity, and the like, bespeaks the condition of our commitment to God, the One who made us in His image and likeness.  As our commitment to God grows deeper and stronger, so should our marriage and with God's help and grace, it will. 

We have a great God, One who redeems and makes all things new, including broken and imperfect marriages. 

God bless you all during this Easter week. 

Blessings,

Michael