Give honor to marriage, and remain faithful to one another in marriage. God will surely judge people who are immoral and those who commit adultery.

-Hebrews 13:4, NLT

When my (now) ex-wife confessed an emotional affair, I did not take it seriously. Honestly, I did not care.

This was a criticial error on my part.

For context, my (now) ex-wife was weaponizing said confession to manipulate me. The emotional affair only happened because of marriage issues–i.e. “It’s really YOUR fault that I cheated!”

What I learned from my own stupidity in this:

When a spouse confesses to an emotional affair, take it seriously and refuse to allow them to shift blame onto you or the marriage.

This is the opposite of keeping the marriage holy. They have defiled the marriage by allowing another into the marriage relationship contra their sacred vows pledging exclusivity to you.

You have been wronged, and that needs to be the focus. This sin cannot be repented of without that bedrock fact being seen and accepted as truth.

Do not make the same mistake I made. CARE! Treat the emotional affair as the REAL threat to your marriage that it is.