How do I stay physically attracted to my aging spouse?

The question comes our way from an anonymous older man who listens to the podcast, dear

Pastor John, most men marry in their youth when our wives are young, vibrant, physically

fit, and at their most physically beautiful.

The passing of time inevitably ushers in wrinkles, sagging skin, sunspots, cellulite, etc.

As aging husbands, how do we remain physically attracted to our spouse?

Should we work at this?

Is it disingenuous if it's forced?

Or is this attraction something that should naturally die off over time?

I don't think so.

However, if I can be fully honest, it often feels like I am brainwashing myself.

How would you counsel me?

I want to say some things from the Bible and then perhaps from my own experience.

At first, a brief word, just by way of preface.

I think it'll be obvious why it's relevant, but I'm calling it preface anyway.

It absolutely must be said, it seems to me, that we live in a sex-crazed culture.

Concepts of beauty are exaggerated, distorted, artificial, disconnected from the reality

of true inner beauty.

Anyone who watches television or movies will almost certainly have a distorted view of

beauty and sexuality in our age.

One way to say it is that sex is vastly overrated.

One of the reasons this happens is because, in fact, in our own bodies, the voice of sexual

...