ALPHA MAAMA (A.M.)

 TOKONAKI MA’ASI 21, 2026

FAKAMAAU 8-9; ‘EKISOTO 20:4-5

Our God is a jealous God and will not share the love of our hearts with anyone or anything.

Ko hotau ‘Otuá, ko e ‘Otua fua’a pea ‘e ‘ikai te ne tali ke fakauoua’i Ia ‘e ha taha pe ko ha me’a.

In the twenty years I spent as a counselor and counseling professor, I witnessed the devastation of adultery and divorce, up close and personal, countless times. I have heard shattered wives tearfully tell the sad story of progressively uncovering their husband's betrayal. I have sat with lost and afraid children who had been thrown into the chaos of the war of their parents' hurt and anger. I have listened to husbands, blind to the destruction of their lust, defend themselves and minimize their sin. I have seen homes become divided houses. I have watched the darkness of grief set in. But with all that I have experienced, I have come to understand that there is an adultery far more devastating than physical/marital adultery. Nothing leaves a legacy of deceit and darkness like spiritual adultery. It captures hearts, derails lives, and causes people to be comfortable with walking away from the one whom they were created to love, enjoy, and fellowship with forever.

Take note of the words of Judges 8:33-35:

As soon as Gideon died, the people of Israel turned again and whored after the  Baals and made Baal-berith their god. And the people of Israel did not remember the  LORD their God, who had delivered them from the hand of all their enemies on every side, and they did not show steadfast love to the family of Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) in return for all the good that he had done to Israel.

As you read this passage, one phrase jumps off the page: "and whored after the Baals." This is your Lord using strong language to help you understand what was going on with his people. Israel's relationship to God was not a kind of loose friendship where they could enjoy the company and love of many friends. No, they had been bound to God by an eternal covenant. Their pursuit of and worship of Baal was the spiritual equivalent of a man or woman pursuing, seducing, and sleeping with someone other than his or her spouse. The dramatic difference here is that the person they are being unfaithful to is God Almighty.

What is spiritual adultery? Any time I give the love of my heart to something other than God, so that this love controls my thoughts, desires, choices, and actions in the way that only God should, I have committed spiritual adultery. This passage tells us two of the roots of spiritual adultery. The first root is God-forgetfulness: "The people of Israel did not remember the LORD." The second root is unthankfulness: "They did not show steadfast love" to the family of Gideon.

Jesus came to restore us to the one love we were created to give our hearts to. Confess with me that you too can be God-forgetful and unthankful. Confess with me that you still have a wandering heart. Pray with me for strength to cling with all of your heart to your Lord. Be thankful with me today that Jesus lived, died, and rose again so that you can know both his saving and his keeping grace.