The most recurrent spiritual issue faced by the average Christian is related to his intellectual life. Male libido is so powerful that sex often seems to be the main focus of his thoughts. Any military man can testify that 95% of off-duty conversations revolve around sex. Dirty jokes and stories filled with swear words become a constant verbal bombardment.

Shortly after becoming a Christian, such a man is convicted by the Word of God and the Holy Spirit to change his patterns of thought. Our Lord, of course, was aware of this universal male problem, as He warned:

“I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matthew 5:28).

Such mental adultery has likely led more sincere men to spiritual defeat than any other sin. Many Christian women do not understand this male issue, and it’s one of the reasons they often adopt such light attire. If they realized the thought issues their indecent exposure causes the average man, many would dress more modestly; but since they aren’t as visually stimulated by a male body, they don’t readily perceive the male response.

I received this message while I was a GI stationed at the Las Vegas Army Air Base. After nineteen days on KP duty, I got what I hoped would be the ultimate assignment: cleaning the WAC barracks. To my great dismay, after grabbing the smallest broom I could find, I discovered the barracks were empty; all the women were working. I returned to the quartermaster for a regular broom, but while cleaning, I noticed something quite surprising: not a single nude male picture appeared on either floor of that facility.

In contrast, the 197 men in our barracks displayed 193 photos of naked girls! Only recently, with the excessive emphasis on sex, have women begun to realize the growing importance of this area. But they apparently have to cultivate this capacity, while men naturally possess it.

Another illustration that women seem not to have an issue with visual desire happened recently in our home. Flipping through Sports Illustrated, I came across a photo of Mr. America. As I admired his bulging biceps and rippling muscles, Bev came up behind me, saw what I was looking at, and spontaneously responded, “Yuck, that’s grotesque!”

Women have their own spiritual issues, but mental lust is rarely one of them. We have reviewed all this to underscore an important point. A loving and sexually receptive wife can be a great help to her husband in keeping his thought life pleasing to God. This does not mean that his victory in Christ depends on his wife’s behavior—it never does.

In fact, God has promised to give a passionate and affectionate man the grace to live with a cold and indifferent wife. However, many carnal Christian husbands have used their wife’s sexual rejection as an excuse to worsen their spiritual defeat with bouts of mental lust.

A loving wife who understands her husband’s needs

The temptations of this sort will reduce her desire to resist his advances, and because she thinks more of his needs than her own fatigue, she will give him her love freely. Her reward will be his quick response to her mood, and together they can share the exhilarating experience of conjugal love…

This text is an excerpt from the book The Act of Marriage: The Beauty of Sexual Love written by Tim and Beverly LaHaye.

We invite you to read the following article, “THE MEANING OF PHYSICAL LOVE FOR WOMEN.”

LIBIDO. LIBIDO.