I sit with couples on a regular basis who have been impacted by infidelity. And I am not talking only about a physical affair. While unfaithfulness can certainly be sexual, it can just as easily be emotional. It can be engaged in online or in person. As I have written about in previous posts, a large majority of divorce proceedings cite Facebook connections as a contributor to divorces.
So, what can we do to prevent individuals from straying outside of the boundaries of their marriages? Should we constantly monitor each other’s email and Facebook accounts? Should we sneak around, hiding behind bushes and spy on each other? While those are certainly possibilities, I am not sure that they are the best or most healthy approaches.
Dr. Tim Clinton reports on research which shows that couples who make it a priority to spend time in reading God’s Word at least four days a week experience the following:
- It changes the choices they may on a daily basis
- It improves their relationship with their spouse
- It lowers the risk of infidelity by 60%
It seems so simple – reading the Bible significantly reduces the risk of infidelity because it helps me to continually dip my bucket in the well of God’s truth. And in doing so – it changes me! If I really want to build a hedge of protection around my marriage, allowing God to change who I am is a much more powerful strategy than monitoring my spouse’s online accounts. Do you want to be changed? Do you want your marriage to be changed? Give God’s Word an opportunity to do both.