Straight Talk About Marriage

Here’s some straight talk about faithfulness in marriage from one of the wisest men who ever lived, Solomon: ‘Drink water from your own cistern, running water from your own well. Should your springs overflow in the streets, your streams of water in the public squares? Let them be yours alone, never to be shared with strangers. May your fountain be blessed, and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth. A loving doe, a graceful deer—may her breasts satisfy you always, may you ever be intoxicated with her love. Why, my son, be intoxicated with another man’s wife? Why embrace the bosom of a wayward woman? For your ways are in full view of the Lord, and He examines all your paths. The evil deeds of the wicked ensnare them; the cords of their sins hold them fast. For lack of discipline they will die, led astray by their own great folly.’ (Proverbs 5:15–23 NIV)

In Solomon’s day, a well or cistern was considered to be as valuable as gold. Clean water was a very precious commodity, so what Solomon is saying is this: ‘Why drink the polluted water that comes from the sewer of promiscuity when, if you wait, you can drink the clean water that comes from the well of a devoted spouse?’

Here are two truths you should always keep in mind:

(1) True love waits.

(2) True love is worth the wait. When tempted to go astray by a fast-living friend, a young Christian woman replied, ‘Any time I want to become like you, I can. But I can never again become the person I was before I made that decision.’