W HAT WOULD YOU think if, while driving down the highway, you had a car pass you in which was rid ing an unknown man and the wife of your best friend? This occurred re cently, which ultimately caused two clients to come to my office. After the husband received the report he faced his wife with it. “Why, the very idea,” she indignantly responded. So he retreated from the accusation and chose to disbelieve his best friend. When he got similar reports from several others, however, he went to the other man involved. He, too, was most vehement in his denial. “I’ll have you sued for libel,” he declared. Finally a detective was put on the trail, and the evidence was unmistak ably found; his wife was committing adultery. The husband and wife came to my office for help. What had gone wrong? Here was a young man married to a young woman. They had all the hopes and aspirations of any couple when they got married. She came from the kind of a home where mom and dad co-operated, working togeth er in all projects. Mother could ask father to help her, and vice versa! On the other hand the husband came from a home where Dad was czar. One just didn’t ask dad to do any menial tasks. As a result, when this couple were first married and the wife would try to discuss some house hold problem with the husband, he would respond, “Oh, don’t bother me with your troubles; you work them out.” Bit by bit their lives began to drift apart. The husband was ab sorbed in his own work. She was left to build a life all her own. What he didn’t know was that she wasn’t building the kind of a life he thought she was. She had been a very clever
woman and had covered up her diffi culties. Deceit is one of the products of the human heart. When she came in she asked, “Can you blame me for being lonesome and bitter? I was misunderstood. This was my way of getting even.” In that sense, she was right; she hadn’t gotten a square deal from her husband. The human heart, rather than committing a per son unto God and praying for grace to surround them, tries to hit back and get even. This deception of hers led her to adultery. It is quite un derstandable for her to say, “He drove me to it.” He certainly made it easy for this woman to do what she did. A woman has a right to expect her husband to become involved in building a life together. How natural, when we face difficulties and prob lems, to draw within ourselves and to nurse the product of an evil heart. Deception and adu l t e r y are both products of the human heart. Another illustration will also re veal other things that are in the heart. Think of theft and covetous ness. A man came into our office who was very well dressed. He seemed to be a highly respected man. As he sat down, almost immediately, he put his head into his hands and said, “I don’t know how to say it, but I’ve been stealing money from my employer.” I responded, “How did you ever get into that?” It seems that he had some friends who had prospered. They had all started out about the same. They had a little house, a meager but sufficient income, and seeming happiness. But his friends began to better themselves. They were making more money than he was. They ate in better restau rants, drove nicer and bigger cars. This man’s heart began to be filled 11
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