The Seven Virtues of a Godly Husband

[Refine Poetry]

The Seven Virtues of a Godly Husband By Rod Nichols

George is a financially successful Christian businessman in his fifties who is a prominent leader in his church. He has been married to Claire for thirty-three years. They have two grown daughters and three beautiful grandchildren. Sounds like another wonderful Christian marriage, right? Wrong! Claire has just informed George that she doesn’t want to be married anymore and is moving out. George is shocked, as he thought they had a pretty good marriage, compared to most. When asked why she is leaving, Claire sites many reasons that boil down to George was not a godly husband.
This is a fictional story, but one that rings with truth derived from my own marriage and counseling with other couples. Christian marriages are under heavy attack by our enemy, the devil and the primary reason why he’s winning is that men have not been taught how to be godly husbands. I know, because I was one of those men and over the last few years God has taught me the virtues necessary to become a godly husband.
For many years, I would put on my “church face” after arguing with my wife all week. To those around me, I seemed like a godly man on Sunday, but wasn’t living for Christ the rest of the week. Because of this, my marriage was in turmoil regularly, my children were struggling, and at times our life was a living hell. This all changed in the spring of 1997, when I attended a Promise Keepers stadium event. God got my attention and began teaching me how to be a godly husband. Karen, my wife will tell you that I came home from that event a different man, but there were still struggles, as the change was not instant. It took God several years to transform me into the man I am today. During those years He showed me seven virtues of a godly husband. Today, I have the most amazing marriage and God is now calling me to teach what I have learned to other men. Here are the seven virtues, as God taught them to me.
Virtue One: Selflessness Men, in general, tend to be selfish and it is one of the reasons that marriages are failing in greater numbers. A godly husband is selfless, like Jesus. He never focused attention onto himself, but rather always on the Father and then His bride (the church). A godly husband will follow that example by focusing his attention on God first and then his wife.
Jesus taught husbands how to be servant leaders and that is what every marriage needs. Let us learn from Jesus, as He would first go to the Father for instructions and then focus on the needs of the people. As I started going to God every morning for instructions, He would help me to see how I could serve my wife every day, by showing me what I could do that day to make my wife’s life more enjoyable. My reward has been a wife who wants to serve me and an incredible, loving, passionate marriage.
Virtue Two: Humility As a whole, men tend to be prideful. We are taught from an early age to be strong and self-reliant. Yet, God isn’t looking for self-made men, He’s looking for men who will humble themselves to His will, just like Jesus did. Jesus humbled himself and set aside His God-nature in order to be a man. In order to become a godly husband, I had to put my pride and ego aside, and submit myself first to God and then to my wife. Instead of lifting myself up as the priest of the household, I began to honor my wife and exalt her as a beautiful and wonderful God-given helper. Godly men are humble servants to God and their wives.
Virtue Three: Loving In my counseling, I often hear men say that they have fallen out of love with their wives. This is because they are trying to love their wives in a worldly love. The Apostle Paul taught about a different kind of love in Ephesians 5:25, “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.” This is a spiritual love that is unconditional and sacrificial and only available from God.
In my quest to become a godly husband, God taught me that in order to love my wife the way Jesus loved the church, I must first come to Him and be filled with His love. Then I could go to my wife and let His love flow through me. We love each other more today than the day we married.
Virtue Four: Kindness Wife abuse has become a huge problem in the world, even in Christian marriages. I have never hit my wife, but like many husbands I was an emotional abuser. I didn’t use my fists, but I did use my tongue. Proverbs 18:21 (NIV) reads, “The tongue has the power of life and death.” Husbands can speak life or death to their wives with the words they use. As I learned to be a godly husband, the Lord taught me to engage my spirit before letting my tongue loose.
Kindness is a real key to becoming a godly husband. Each day you should strive to be kind to your wife. Compliment her looks, surprise her with flowers, a gift, or fix her dinner. Give her short love notes and special cards that tell her how special she is to you. Take her on creative dates and every once in awhile do the chores she usually does in your house. A godly husband realizes how kind God has been to him and funnels that kindness to his wife.
Virtue Five: Gentleness The world’s image of a man is rough and tough – the Marlboro Man, but a wife would rather have a gentle husband. Jesus modeled the perfect man by being both strong and gentle. As husbands we are called to be the same.
Many men struggle with control and anger problems. I was one of those who needed to be in control and when I wasn’t I would explode like a volcano, permanently damaging anyone who was around me. My wife forgave the words and actions, but it took a long time for her to forget. In order to become a godly husband, the Lord had to teach me first that He is the only one truly in control and then how to let my emotions out in other ways – through conversation, prayer, and even tears. Yes, real men do cry! Over time, God removed the anger and filled me with His peace that resulted in a more gentle nature.
Virtue Six: Honesty Our world is full of dishonesty and so are many marriages. Trust is a huge area for women and most husbands have done things that have strained that trust. Some women, like my wife, come into marriage with trust issues from previous relationships. Unfortunately, I did things that broke that trust and it took many years to regain it.
A godly husband will always tell the truth. Little white lies will damage a marriage, as will leaving out key details that you feel she doesn’t need to know. Anything that even looks remotely dishonest to your wife, will damage your marriage.
Godly husbands will be honest and up-front with their wives in all areas. They realize that God made her as a helper and in order for a wife to do that, there can be nothing hidden.
Virtue Seven: Faithfulness Infidelity, even in Christian marriages, is on the rise. Unfaithfulness falls into two categories – physical and emotional. Most often, men think of physical unfaithfulness as a sexual affair. However, this area also encompasses relationships with other women where you are sharing intimate information that should only be shared with your wife. This area would also include visiting strip clubs. A godly husband never shares his body, or mind with a woman other than his wife. The second is emotional unfaithfulness. Many husbands get to a point in marriage where they don’t feel sexually fulfilled and rather than discuss it with their wives, they turn to pornography. Because there is no physical contact, it seems ok. However, Jesus said that if we look at women with lust, we have committed adultery. Pornography is rampant, even in Christian marriages and it is tearing them apart.
If you are struggling with any of these areas of unfaithfulness, you need to seek help from a Pastor and become accountable to one or two godly men. A program that has proven to be very effective is “Setting the Captives Free.” You can visit their web site at http://www.settingcaptivesfree.com/home.