Dudes: I gotta be me!

For those of you who are married, you have, because of your situation, been called by God to marital fidelity.

For those of you who are not married, you have, because of your situation, been called by God to marital fidelity. You see, Hebrews 13:4 is no respecter of persons.

Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.

Seems pretty cut and dried.

Things begin to happen to our reason and to our defenses when our minds and eyes wander (Proverbs 5:7-14, Job 31:1), when we fail to remember our first love and to love our bride as Christ loves the church (Ephesians 5:25-28).

It matters not the object of this new and hostile affection. For Christian singer Ray Bolz ("Thank you, for giving to the Lord"), that object was another man. The escape clause for homosexual adultery is the "sudden realization" for the man or woman that they'd always been "gay." No, the truth is that you have always been a sinner; you are now just acting upon the lusts of the flesh.

Pastors and secretaries. Wives and co-workers. Older and younger. And you can sprinkle in the deviance of your choice (the Bible touches on most of them). Bottom line: It's sin, rebellion against God. Tony Woodlief, in World on the Web, pulls no punches as he speaks about the darkness of the heart that wanders. His agonized column was spawned by Bolz's betrayal of his wife of 30-plus years, but it focuses not on homosexual adultery but on marital infidelity in any hue.

Gents (and ladies), I encourage you to take the time to meditate upon Woodlief's confrontation (here). Cling to the Vine and shore up your defenses.