Adultery is a result of unmitigated selfishness.

Sadly, it is a worldwide epidemic.

It often destroys an innocent spouse. It almost always destroys innocent children. It destroys family relationships. It may spread disease. It can result in a child born out-of-wedlock. It may cost you your job and your standing in the community. If you claim to be a Christian, it dishonors God and is a witness that His children conduct their lives as do non-believers, except Christians go to church.

Actually, it’s impossible to adequately describe the damage done by adultery -- such is the nature of the beast. It is your own personal atom bomb that does deadly damage well beyond ground zero. As a Christian lay counselor I can tell you from experience that nothing good comes from adultery -- nothing. The end is always disastrous. That’s not my opinion, that’s the one and only conclusion one can come to after listening to hundreds of people relate their experience -- and it doesn’t matter if you’re listening to the adulterer or the innocent victim of the adulterer’s betrayal. It’s the same old story and it never ends well for anyone.

Digressing to my opening sentence -- adultery is nothing if not raw selfishness, so let’s approach the subject from the damage done to our own person when we commit adultery. If adulterers think of no one but themselves, perhaps they will listen to reason when they realize their selfishness will cause their own demise.

Others are hurt, but they will not be held accountable on Judgment Day for another’s adultery. Adulterers will. "Marriage [is] honorable among all, and the bed undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers God will judge." (Hebrews 13:4 NKJV)

"Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God." (1 Corinthians 6:9-10)

If you have any belief in God you must weigh having an affair against your eternity, for if you’re an unrepentant adulterer you will not enter heaven. You have instead chosen hell. God is very clear about this, not to harm us, but to warn us. Such is His love for His children.

Please take heed. "Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God." (James 4:4) Whoa! Back up the spiritual truck! Please read James 4:4 again -- slowly. This takes the matter of adultery to new heights, or should I say depths. Not only are you canceling your heavenly inheritance by committing adultery, you have willingly become the enemy of the Alpha and Omega of the universe. If that doesn’t make you uncomfortable, I beg you to take stock of your life, as there is something drastically wrong with your priorities.

By the way, becoming an enemy of God puts you in the position of picking a fight that you cannot win -- under any circumstances -- ever!

Regardless of your religious beliefs, you must feel you have inner substance. I’ve also counseled non-believers, and almost to a person they believe they are more than just a physical presence. They have a mind, thoughts, and feelings. They find many ways to describe their inner-selves. Christians simply say "I have a soul."

The point is, no matter how you see yourself, how you describe yourself, there is more to you than just "you."

And now we get to the bottom line.

Is eternity a future event we’ll concern ourselves with at some later date? I know that’s how many people think, but that’s playing spiritual Russian Roulette. Some claim they’ll get right with God next week, next month, next year, but right now they’ve found their "soul mates," and nothing else matters. Sadly, for too many people the flesh trumps the spirit.

But what if entering into an adultery were to literally destroy the essence that is you? We’re not talking about the here-after, we’re talking about the here-and-now.

On the subject of adultery there is no verse that has the impact of Proverbs 6:32.

"Whoever commits adultery with a woman lacks understanding; He [who] does so destroys his own soul."

No matter how you describe the inner-you, you are in the process of killing it by committing adultery. My years of counseling on this subject have made me understand the absolute truth of Proverbs 6:32. And I can also tell you this -- if you’re committing adultery, you will come to know this truth as well.