“Make Love, Not War” is an iconic Vietnam-era slogan that is still used in protests today. It speaks to our desire to live at peace and to lead quiet lives with those we love. It is also a mutually exclusive statement. “Making War” is the opposite of “Making Love” in the view of the radicals who hold the placards.
Not so for the Christian wife. I would propose that, for her, the two go hand in hand, and that the former is actually part and parcel of the latter.
Being your husband’s helpmeet is not just about handling KP duty and cleaning latrines–though a woman’s role may certainly include those tasks. It is primarily about waging war in the name of the King, alongside your husband, and raising up the next generation of Christian soldiers who will be called to war in their generation.
As Christians, we are called to a life of continual warfare against “the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12, ESV). Truce is not possible, nor desirable. We are at war. And making love with your husband is a powerful weapon of your warfare as a Christian wife!
We have referred to our bedroom as “our foxhole” in this war. It is where we stand guard for each other, pray to our Captain for assistance, make our plans for tomorrow’s advance and yes, “keep warm” in the night as Ecclesiastes 4:11 states, (“if two lie down together they keep warm, but how can one be warm alone?”).
The man said, ‘This is now bone of my bones, And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man.’ For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed. (Genesis 2:23-25 NASB)
Woman came from man’s flesh, and when a man and woman unite in marriage, they are again “one flesh.” The beautiful picture of the “one-flesh” union of our marriages is something the enemy despises, as it both symbolizes Christ’s union with his Bride and brings glory to our King. Our lovemaking wars against our own (and our husband’s) flesh and the temptations the world and the devil would throw in our paths to keep us from faithfulness in our fight.
When a married couple makes love, they strengthen their alliance with one another. Also, in the normal course of most marriages, this union brings forth children, whom our enemies will likely have to war against in the coming generations.
In these ways our “making love” truly “makes war” on the enemies of God.
*First published at Visionary Womanhood
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