By Harold Keller

I attend at least two, sometimes three, early morning men’s Bible sharing meetings each week.

Recently, during one of these meetings, we discussed the impossibility of perfection in respect to adhering to God’s commandments and directives.

One of the men commented that, recently, while in church, he was distracted by the presence of an attractive woman. He continued to say how convicted he was by the lack of control of his thoughts and glances. The discussion continued, and more specifically, to the lust of one’s own wife.

The following was shared by one of the men in attendance:

“Many men may not be conscious of the fact that lusting after one that you are married to can be as sinful as lusting after a stranger. If a man with an overbearing personality requires and/or demands that his wife has an intimate relationship with him, she becomes no different than a slave and he assumes the characteristics of a slave owner or slave master. The physical sexual act has no meaning in relationship to true love.

Or if a husband offers gifts to his wife or restricts her ability to financial resources or other material needs as a means of bartering for sex, she become no more than a prostitute, sadly, bought and paid for.

Neither of these scenarios displays the passion and true love that God’s plan for man and woman described. Christ said that if a man looks upon a woman with lust in his heart, he has committed adultery. Is it any different if a man looks upon his wife with lust in his heart and forces her to be physically intimate?

Intimacy between husband and wife is to be an example of the purest of giving of one’s heart and love. Not to be bought, traded, or demanded, but to be received from one whose giving is out of the deepest of their love. This gift should be received in the same manner with the greatest of respect as only God’s plan designed it to be.”

I’ve attended many men’s Bible sharing meetings over the past 20 years and have never heard anything so profound.

If you have any questions, or comments, please write to Get High on Life, P.O. Drawer U, Reserve, LA 70084, call (985) 652-8477, or e-mail: hkeller@comcast.net.