Ashley Madison is an adult extra-marital “dating” website whose tagline is: “Life is short. Have an affair”
What disheartened me was the mind blowing fact that this site has over 37 million registered cheaters! That’s over 10% of our population!!
The hackers have threatened to release the names, pictures, messages … and all sorts of incriminating material … if Ashley Madison doesn’t shut the website down.
I can see it now … all that info released and 37 million folks will have a lot of explaining to do!
All of this made me think about how many of us may be keeping secrets from our spouses … for any number of reasons … none of which is good enough to justify all the damage that will occur to your marriage when it comes to light.
If you’re keeping a secret from your spouse … it is time to ask two hard questions:
1 – “Why am I keeping this information from him or her?” Do I honestly believe it’s the best thing for our marriage; or am I petrified of what will happen if the secret leaks out? And then the second question:
2 – “How is our relationship being strengthened by me keeping this secret?”
I don’t think any marital secret can survive these two questions. Let’s be honest … keeping secrets is lying … plain and simple. We are either intentionally withholding or distorting information to deceive our spouses.
We keep secrets because we’re afraid and don’t want to be judged or rejected. The Bible tells us that “perfect love casts out all fear” … So, what would our marriages look like if we refocused all of the energy it takes to hide secrets and put it into creating a safe relationship where we could become free to share everything with each other?
Proverbs 10:19 says: “The man of integrity walks securely, but he who takes crooked paths will be found out.”
Ashley Madison’s users have learned that keeping secrets will lead to anxious living … and ultimate discovery.
Living safely without worry comes from living honestly with integrity.
