Christians Recovering From Adultery

QUESTION: Christians Recovering from Adultery - What are Some Verses to Help me Heal?

ANSWER:

Christians recovering from adultery have a resource that will help heal the hurts of the betrayal: The Bible. Some of the Bible's principles are universal for every offense that we may suffer in this life. The verses found below can help in the healing process.

• "Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you" (Ephesians 4:32). The basis for forgiving adultery is the fact that we ourselves are forgiven. That is, because we are forgiven we can then choose to forgive some one else. This does not undo the offense and indeed, unless the other person asks for forgiveness, they cannot receive the benefit of that forgiveness. But we benefit because we remove ourselves from the burden of carrying unforgiveness in our own hearts. Unforgiveness is like acid that eats into the soul and it breeds a whole range of other detrimental results such as bitterness, lack of compassion, and rancor.
  
  
• "No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it" (1 Corinthians 10:13). This verse is a comfort and a help to heal because it tells us that what has happened to us is not some thing that is uncommon. Other people have gone through this pain and have been able to get through it with God's help. Notice it says to "stand up under it." That means that it is possible to stand in spite of being betrayed.
  
  
• "I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world" (John 16:33). Here is the promise that whatever trouble, trial, or test we may face in this world, we can overcome it because the LORD has overcome it for us. What a wonderful thing to know that we are not alone in this and that He has the provision for us to come through the other side of our pain stronger.
  
  
• "But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well" (Matthew 6:33). When a Christian is recovering from adultery, the trouble that the pain causes stems from allowing that hurt to be the focus of our lives. But when we choose to focus on putting God and His viewpoint first in our minds and hearts, we find that the pain of this life is put into its proper perspective.

When we allow the principles of God's Word to be the focus of our lives rather than the anger and the pain of betrayal, those principles are a healing balm for our souls. We also must remember that healing is a process and that we need to be patient with ourselves. It takes a choice of our will to appropriate the Word of God and apply it to our hearts; it is one day at a time, one choice after another. God makes provision for us to get through pain and suffering and when we choose to allow Him to comfort us, we are then equipped to be a comfort to others. "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God" (2 Corinthians 1:3-4).