We’ve looked at love expressed in godly leadership, spiritual equality, deep understanding, powerful serving, sincere empathy, genuine appreciation, and encouraging affirmation. Now, we turn our attention to the most countercultural act of love in our time—faithfulness.

In our day, fidelity is rarely prized. Sex is paraded all around us. And pornography is the not the subject of baseness, but humor. Women are being reduced to objects and men are encouraged to have their way.

The only limitation to our culture’s sex is distance. But the Internet is quickly resolving that. Unfaithfulness is becoming so normative that it will lose its meaning in our lifetime. In the words of actor Chris Rock, “Men are as faithful as their options.”

What a sad commentary on our men!

Want to love your wife? Want to glorify God in marriage? Want to be a real man? Then turn this reality on its head. Stand up and resist the culture. Be loyal, constant, and devoted to your wife and her alone.

Faithfulness is Design of God

Let’s be plain. God invented marriage (Gen. 2:24). It was His idea. He created it, instituted it, and gave it to us as a picture of Christ and the Church (Eph. 5:32). In the way that Christ is faithful to the Church is the way that you husbands should be faithful to their wives. He designed it. He calls the shots.

Faithfulness is the Will of God

In no uncertain terms, God spells out the command to us all, “abstain from sexual immorality” because “it is the will of God” (1 Thess. 4:3). Sex outside of marriage is not the will of God. If you desire to please Him, you cannot do it while being unfaithful your wife.

Faithfulness is the Blessing of God

The writer of Hebrews reminds us this way: “Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous” (Heb. 13:4). God blesses those who obey and judges those who do not. By honoring your marriage faithfully, you welcome the blessings of God on yourself and your family.

Faithfulness Begins in the Mind

To truly be faithful to your wife, you have to wage war at the most basic level—the mind (Matt. 5:28). The battle really begins in your thinking. What floats around in your head, be it pictures or stories or desires, will take root in your heart. Make war there and you can be victorious elsewhere.

Faithfulness Ends in the Body

While the mind is key to faithfulness, your body must also be carefully protected. By this, I mean that you should be wise with your engagements and habits throughout the day. Discipline yourself to stay away from things and people who arouse your affections and draw you toward immorality.

You made a vow to God, your family, and your friends. Be a man. Keep your word, both intellectually, emotionally, and physically. Nothing says “I love you” more than faithfulness, for is tells your wife, “No one else captures my affections—ever.”

A New Discipleship Resource

Creative Content for Christian Men

Watch Now

Instead of comments, I accept and encourage letters to the editor. If you want to write a letter to the editor, you can do so here.