On Sunday December 1, I (Pastor Scott) preached on the book of Hosea. As you may remember, God asked Hosea to marry a woman who would go on to cheat on him, thus allowing God’s prophet to experience adultery in his marital relationship just as God was experiencing in His relationship with Israel.
Hosea also went and bought her back after she had run off “for good;” illustrating God’s covenant-keeping love which is the point of the book. That said, there was another application I had wanted to stress and did not:
The command that Gomer repeatedly broke was “thou shalt not commit adultery.” Jesus famously said in the Sermon on the Mount that we can break that command in our minds, which lines up nicely with the tenth commandment – “Thou shalt not covet”.
Maybe we all listened to the message on Hosea and thought, “Nope, I’m not cheating on God!” I’m not “doing” anything that would constitute spiritual adultery! It’s not like daydreaming about a bigger house, younger wife or a faster car is really a sin! Or is it?
Aspirations for which we can work are excellent! (1 Timothy 3:1; Colossians 3:22-25); lustful discontent leads to sin; always (James 1:12-18; cf. Hebrews 13:5-6).
If putting other passions on the throne of our life is akin to adultery against our Lord and Savior, then daydreaming about different circumstances is akin to ungratefulness for the very gifts our Lord and Savior has bestowed!
Just a thought,
Pastor Scott
Grace Notes 