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Thoughts on the Pastor’s Smokin’ Hot Wife

Last Updated: July 27, 2021

It seems like the phrase “My smokin’ hot” wife is coming into mainstream Christianity now. I have heard a number of preachers use the phrase from the pulpit, especially when they are sharing messages on sex.

And have you seen this video of a pastor at a NASCAR race praying, thanking God for the racetrack, the racing teams, the cars, the drivers, the cans of Sonoco fuel, and his smokin’ hot wife?

When pastors talk about their wives as “smokin’ hot” or call attention to their physical beauty in a sermon, I think they are:

  • Trying to show their congregations that they love their wives and are attracted to them.
  • Teaching that it’s OK to admire beauty and to be sexually attracted to one another.
  • Showing genuine thankfulness to God.
  • Saying to congregants indirectly, “hands off” my wife, she’s mine.
  • Saying to congregants indirectly, “I’m taken,” I don’t need an adulterous relationship, I have a wonderful wife.

Using “smoking hot’ to describe your wife is fantastic, but I believe it needs to retreat to something you privately say to your wife.  I don’t think we should be using this phrase publicly.

Why pastors shouldn’t say it publicly:

  1. It makes me want to check out your wife – When I hear anyone say he has a “smoking hot” wife, I want to check her out for myself. I want to rate her on the “smokin’ hotness” scale. You push my button and trigger me to check out your wife.
  2. Strong sexual connotations with the phrase in our culture – The phrase is already being used in our culture to describe Hugh Hefner’s girlfriends, Miss America, America’s Top Model, and the Hooter’s waitresses you saw during lunch. It’s not a phrase we need to “claim for Jesus” from our pulpits.
  3. Focuses on the wrong thing – The message a pastor is sending is “look at the package.” God teaches us to value women, honor them, love them.
  4. Has objectification written all over it – There’s a fine line between admiring beauty and objectifying. In a lust-driven society we may say we’re admiring beauty, but we’re really saying “I want that for my own visual or sexual pleasure.” When we objectify we don’t value the human being, we take in the picture, video, or live person in front of us for our own pleasure.
  5. What message is this sending to wives? – Wives have a hard enough time with low self-esteem when it comes to their image. Magazines and movies already teach women that image is the most important thing; they don’t need their pastor sending the same message.
  6. What if I don’t have a “smoking hot” wife? – Guys get jealous quick and covetous of another’s “smoking hot” wife whenever their relational intimacy at home is failing.
  7. Is the pastor more blessed for having a “smokin’ hot wife”? – Any wife is a blessing from the Lord. The illusion for some is that the holy guy gets the better looking women. Would you be thanking God for your “average looking” wife? Would you even acknowledge this from the pulpit?

Say it, but say it privately

I want to tell my wife that she’s beautiful. I’m attracted to her. I have this deep churning inside me that makes me want to shower my wife with complements, gifts, acts of service, and affection. It’s normal. It’s a God-given desire. And it’s what a healthy romantic relationship looks like. I shouldn’t be ashamed of the phrase, but I should use discretion as to where and when I use it.

To me my wife is “smokin’ hot.” It starts with me visually and admiring my wife’s physical beauty. But as I am growing in my sexuality, emotionally and relationally, I am finding deeper, more fulfilling connections with my wife. I am attracted to her physically, but I am more attracted to her strength of character, her ability to organize, her loyalty, her love for our children and her grace toward me.

Preachers, let’s move you and your “smokin’ hot” wife back to the bedroom.

Feedback

Q:  What do you think?

Q:  Are pastors doing a good thing when they call their wives “smokin’ hot”?

Q:  Am I being hypersensitive about this?

  1. Rev. Anne Ferguson

    Your church should get a female pastor, pronto.

  2. Bob

    I think it says much, how women feel, when nearly every woman agreed with Jeff. We men think different, than our wives, for instance if my wife brought me a new tool box with tools for my birthday , I would be pleased, but if I brought her the latest and greatest vacuum cleaner for her birthday , I think she would just be smoking.

  3. Derek Brown

    Is this an overreaction???? I don’t know but I will say this…. I think we as pastors are to quick to run around and find fault with each other. It almost reminds men of the Swagert/PTL wars in the 80s. I don’t know about anyone else but I have enough trouble keeping Derek Brown on the straight and narrow without checking to make sure someone else has dotted all their I’s and crossed their It’s. No wonder pastors get overtaken in a fall. They don’t trust each other enough to open up and ask for prayer for struggles because we are to busy nitpicking each other to death to make our own selves look good. I know I might sound a little harsh but as a 30 something preacher I have grown weary of the only gift in operation in our churches being the “gift of criticism”.

    How about for once we as pastors stop competing, come together in love, and help each other build the kingdom while supporting each other in our individual walks with the Lord.

  4. Jessica

    Wow…the “smokin’ hot wife” comment was SO not the biggest irritant to me in that prayer, though I did think it was inappropriate. But hey, it got him some applause. I couldn’t tell if he was praying or getting paid by sponsors. I realize I can’t judge his intentions, only God can, but it seemed very much for show.

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