Playing With Fire

We recently watched an episode of House (one of my favorite shows) called "Open and Shut." This episode depicted a sad picture of marriage and I was tempted to turn it off without finishing it (I didn't). The patient was a woman in an "open marriage" where she and her husband had an agreement that they could sleep with other people because they both realized that "to expect ONE person to satisfy your needs for the rest of your life is unreasonable."

Immediately when she said this, red flags shot up and the claxon of alarm bells in my head resounded. Their mindset in their marriage was about "me" and "my needs." A marriage where the focus is on how I'm going to get my needs met, will result in disappointment. People are not perfect, no matter who you marry, and if you're looking to this one person to satisfy all your needs, they will let you down. The only One who can satisfy all our needs is God, who was clearly absent there. Perhaps, she simply meant all her sexual needs, but the point still stands if they had a healthy mindset of marriage, they wouldn't think of looking for satisfaction beyond their spouse. God created marriage and sex in such a way that it IS fulfilling (and intended) with one person. But that may not be the case when we take Him out of it and make sex all about our own gratification.

The other focus of the episode was on Dr. Chris Taub and HIS marriage. Those who don't watch the show should know that Taub has already had an affair once and there is a significant amount of distrust from his wife, Rachel. This patient got him to thinking about the possibility of "opening" up his marriage, which initially infuriated his wife. Taub admits to Rachel that there is a nurse at the hospital that is attracted to him that he frequently flirts with, which he sees as harmless because of his insistence that "nothing's happened." I would add a big "YET" to the end of that statement.

Ultimately, Rachel says she is not okay with an open marriage and Taub tells her all he wants is her. Yet, fast forward to the end of the show, setting: hospital parking lot. Homewrecker Nurse is overburdened with boxes and struggling to get them into her car. Taub is watching from his car. (Me: "DON'T YOU EVEN WALK OVER THERE!") Taub, being the chivalrous gent he's clearly shown himself to be, goes to her and helps her load the boxes into her trunk. Next thing you know, they're kissing passionately and he's getting into her car to go have an intimate rendezvous.

Here you have a man who has shown his area of weakness with a history of infidelity who is purposely subjecting himself to temptation. He has a woman at work that he is attracted to, and that is attracted to him, and he "harmlessly" flirts with her? How long will the flirting go on before it becomes something else? How many times can he put himself in situations with the potential of causing him to stumble before he falls flat on his face? I thought House's team was supposed to be smart!

Proverbs 6:27 also speaks to this - "Can a man scoop fire into his lap without his clothes being burned?" (NIV)