A Godly Man: Devotions From Time of GraceVoorbeeld

The loyalty of a husband

I have a friend who studied art and design. He says, “The eye is drawn to a vertical line.” That’s the temptation men face when they meet women who are revealing a little too much of what their mamas gave them. Eye contact, gentlemen!

Women are God’s art. Men have noticed their beauty and reproduced the female form in stone, on canvas, in celluloid film, and in their minds. Sometimes it’s respectful, and sometimes it’s just plain wrong. In real-time, male/female interactions can produce sexual tension. And they can test a husband’s love and honor for his wife. Where do you look? What should you think? What do you say? And what are you willing to buy if she is selling something? It all depends on where your loyalties lie.

Interestingly, a single man gave the best advice for marriage: “Husbands, go all out in your love for your wives, exactly as Christ did for the church—a love marked by giving, not getting. Christ’s love makes the church whole. His words evoke her beauty” (Ephesians 5:25–27 MSG). It takes a loyal husband a lifetime to extol his wife’s beauty and keep her self-image whole. God forbid any man should ever break something so beautiful. Gentlemen, it is a good feeling to have a long marriage and be able to say, “This is my wife. She’s still everything I’m looking for.”

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