Are you strong enough to live with her with understanding; or do you simply wish to never be inconvenienced, smashing the vessel of her heart on the floor like a cantankerous child? Are you strong enough to protect her heart? To never do anything that would damage her reputation? Would you rather die yourself than do the least thing to damage the soul of the one you love?
Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; (Eph 5:25)
Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered. (1Pe 3:7)
There is a growing problem among young men today. Pornography is so available that a large majority of men are not able to love a real woman, even physically. A young woman is simply an object, whose sole purpose of existing is to cater to a man’s whims and moods. A real woman is to be understood and loved, and this is too much to ask for today’s young man.
It is easier to drop out of reality, turn on the screen and love a fantasy, which is simply another word for loving yourself.
This is not love.
Men have become perpetual children, demanding and petulant. A woman is seen as an impersonal collection of various body parts, designed to be used until she has no more to give – and then discarded.
A child demands sex; a man longs for intimacy. A child refuses to give anything; a man gives his heart.
So the streets and the clubs and the bars are filled with children, demanding satisfaction, searching for their next toy to use and destroy.
Some young men seek marriage, but are unwilling to give their heart. They play with a woman’s heart until they “find the right one” and then they inadvertently “fall in love” – Cupid’s next victims. But a victim of Cupid is a victim, not a man. He was not strong enough to choose a wife; he was not strong enough to love the one he chose. He simply allowed the currents of desire to carry him this way and that. He falls in love. He falls out of love. He leaves behind him the wreckage of broken and hurting young women who were naïve enough to believe him when he said, “I love you”.
This also is not love.
The question that I have for you is this: Are you strong enough to love a woman?
Are you strong enough to love your wife as Christ loved the church?
Are you strong enough to live with her with understanding; or do you simply wish to never be inconvenienced, smashing the vessel of her heart on the floor like a cantankerous child?
Are you strong enough to protect her heart? To never do anything that would damage her reputation?
Would you rather die yourself than do the least thing to damage the soul of the one you love?
Are you strong enough to ask forgiveness? Courageous enough to call her lovingly to repentance?
Are you bold enough to reconcile?
Are you strong enough to turn off the television and listen to her?
Do you understand her fears, her desires, her longings? Do you have the courage to hear her?
Do you have the courage to open up your heart to her?
