Purity, Modesty & Fidelity

Lenten Devotional Series Day 25. Today’s meditation is on the seventh commandment, “You shall not commit adultery,” found in Exodus 20:14.

In Matthew 12:43-45, Jesus warned the Pharisees that deliverance from Satan’s power without an accompanying conversion to faith in him would only leave a person ripe for worse Satanic oppression. One demon gone: good. Seven demons return: very bad. In the same way, if Jesus delivers us from sin but then we do not endeavor to live a transformed life, we are likely to fall back into the same bondage as before, perhaps this time inoculated against the power of the Gospel.

In yesterday’s post on the seventh commandment, we saw the importance of repenting and fleeing from all sexual sin. Today, so as not to fall back into the same bondage, we need to consider our corresponding responsibilities. In other words, in endeavoring to keep the seventh commandment, we should ask what are the ‘virtuous opposites’ of adultery that ought to characterize our lives?

First, we are called to practice sexual purity, i.e. abstinence for unmarried persons, and fidelity for husbands and wives. For unmarried persons, this means embracing God’s call to chastity and joyfully pursuing it. For the latter, it means loving your spouse unconditionally and frequently demonstrating it through lovemaking. Just as it was wrong to have sex together before marriage, now it is wrong not to have sex together (unless you don’t have enough time to pray—see 1 Cor 7:5-6).

Second, the duties of the seventh commandment include the practice of modesty as Christians. Modesty in contemporary culture is considered prudish; we live in the contemporary world, but we are not of it. God calls Christians to a different way of life, in which modesty in speech, dress, and behavior are normative. Wendy Shalit has argued that modesty makes a lot of sense for all people, regardless of religion. However, we ought not be surprised when non-Christians are immodest. God’s Law is a gift to believers and impossible to keep apart from the grace of Christ. Our job as Christians is not to enforce God’s Law among non-believing neighbors. Rather, we are to be salt and light in the world, and one way we do so is through the practice of modesty.

Finally, in keeping the seventh commandment we are called to fidelity in every relationship. We should be known as people who keep our promises, pay our bills on time, and don’t bail out on our friends in times of hardship. We also should be fiercely loyal to Jesus, even as we hang on loosely to our own particular branch of his church. In other words, a life of fidelity involves faithfully loving God and neighbor.

Today in prayer, begin with the Collect of the Day (below). Ask the Lord to show you ways in which you can seek purity instead of giving in to sexual temptation. Pray for your church family to be a people who demonstrate modesty in speech, dress and behavior, instead of those who wink at sexual sin. Call on the Lord to give you wisdom and empower you for fidelity in all relationships. Then conclude with the Lord’s Prayer.

Collect of the Day. Almighty God, look upon the sincere desires of your humble servants, and stretch out the right hand of your majesty to be our defense against every enemy, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.