‘For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland.’ Isaiah 43:19(NLT)
‘“I am the Lord , the God of all the peoples of the world. Is anything too hard for me? ‘ Jeremiah 32:27(NLT)
‘Jesus looked at them intently and said, “Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But with God everything is possible.”’ Matthew 19:26(NLT)
‘Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony. ‘ Colossians 3:12-14(NLT)
We’re going to assume that there is genuine repentance. Let’s assume that the person who was unfaithful has turned to the Lord, confessed their sin, and repented. The key is going to be on the part of the person that remained faithful… they are going to have to forgive. Without genuine forgiveness of their spouse, the marriage is going to have a difficult time recovering.
Forgiveness is going to be key. Forgiveness is an act, a decision by which we set the offender free. We release the offender free from our hearts from their guilt against us. Forgiveness belongs to the new man. Truly forgiven people are forgiving people. Forgiven people will not say, “Until I’m satisfied you won’t be set free.” We understand why people need forgiveness because we needed forgiveness. This is where salvation is put on display because forgiveness is an act of love. We struggle with forgiveness when we don’t confess our own sins. When we come face to face with our own guiltiness toward the Lord, we’ll be willing to show the same mercy toward someone who is guilty toward us.
Then on the part of the offending party, they have to be willing to take whatever step is necessary to minister love to the person they’ve been unfaithful to. There are going to be new boundaries that help protect them from going down the same road again, but also steps they can take to impart a sense of confidence and assurance to their spouse if they love them and are fully committed to remaining faithful moving forward.
I would encourage both parties to look to the Lord throughout every step of this. As married people, our confidence in the ultimate sense is not in our spouse but in the Lord. Whether the person is faithful or unfaithful, I’m going to look to Christ. We need to be God-reliant, God-dependent, God-focused people to get through this situation successfully.
from Restoring A Broken Marriage