Radical Wisdom: A 7-Day Journey For HusbandsSample

Love Stays  

What makes a man godly? How does he demonstrate his love for God? By fulfilling the second commandment: “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Mark 12:31). Who are your closest neighbors? Your wife and your kids.

What’s the first thing a husband and father does to demonstrate love for them?

He stays.

Godly men don’t run off. They don’t run away. Author John Lynch defines love as “meeting needs.” Your wife’s number one need is security. That starts with you being committed. Staying. Regardless, you work it out.

Too many men are moving away instead of staying. We pursue selfish acts and ambitions that move us away from the good things God intends for us.

Love stays. Elder-type men stick with their Lord, the wife of their youth, their kids, their families, and the church. No matter what. 

I’ll never forget one of the men I mentored telling about how his dad would get up early to read his Bible and pray. He’d get down and kneel on the couch, and when the son got up later in the morning, he’d see the imprint of his dad’s face in the couch. He knew his dad had been there before dawn, praying for him . . . he could see his face print. 

Another mentee had quite a different experience. His memory is his dad announcing he didn’t love his mom anymore and that he was moving out. He moved in with his girlfriend and deserted his family. Every single day, this thirty-something year old man deals with the damage his dad did to him when he decided not to stay.

If you’re thinking about leaving, don’t. Stay. If you’re there in body but not in spirit, stay . . . turn your heart to your family and get yourself together where it matters most. People are watching. Your kids are watching. Your grandchildren are (or will be) watching. People inside and outside the faith are watching.

Question: Will you decide, I mean really decide, to stay? And then will you tell (or remind) your wife that you’re not going anywhere . . . not now, not ever?