Courtship

OK, I mentioned the term "Courtship" in my first blog (What is considered "Conservative dating"). Courtship, is romance in scriptural perspective. In essence, it's an exercise. By following the principles of courtship, you are exercising many scriptural qualities. Such as patience, trust in the Lord, and self-control.

• Patience is waiting for the Lord to bring his chosen person into your life. This can be a drawn out process, or it could be an immediate meeting. It will all play out according to God's plan.

• Trust in God is trusting that the Lord will bring that special person into your life at the right time. As we all know, God is perfect, thus if we truly believe in him we know that there is nothing at risk when you put matters in God's hands.

• Self-control is exercised during your waiting period for your spouse. Because you always have the option of going out on a limb and taking a chance on any given person that you might be attracted to.

These three qualities are essential to life, and living out God's plan successfully.

Let's go into more detail into the consequences of crossing the boundaries of courtship.

• For one thing, if you refer to the Bible and it's teachings, it is very clear about avoiding lust. If you have a boyfriend/girlfriend and have a romantic relationship with them (kissing, petting, sexual intercourse, etc.), you will have physically committed adultery with that person, thus, betraying your future spouse. But something else you should know is that nobody in this world is free of the sin of lust. So much as thinking an impure thought about someone of the opposite gender is considered fornication. But, as we already know, we as humans are imperfect, and prone to sin. THIS DOES NOT MAKE THINKING IMPURE THOUGHTS OR BEING ROMANTICALLY IMPURE RIGHT IN ANY CONTEXT! If we truly want to be the best Christians that we can be, we need to ask the Lord for strength daily, and fight temptation. The Bible says that the Lord will NOT give us anything that is beyond our abilities to resist. By knowing this, we have no excuse for not remaining emotionally pure.

If you truly want to follow God's plan and be united with the person God has planned for you, I have a thought that can help you visualize the following concepts:

• Imagine a piece of un-chewed chewing gum. Let's say this piece of gum represents your heart. Every time you become emotionally involved with some one of the opposite gender, that piece of gum becomes chewed. Now (for the big picture), when you meet your spouse and someday get married, do you feel proud giving that person used merchandise? Would you honestly feel proud giving your spouse a heart that's already been used, and is now been torn into sections (a small section will lie with each boyfriend/girlfriend that you've ever had and have broken up with)? It's not even whole anymore! Let alone worthy for the person that God made just for you to spend the rest of your life with!

For most of us (including me) this has already occurred (a boyfriend/girlfriend relationship). But it's not to late to preserve the rest of your heart for that one person. I too have fallen astray and have walked the path of "The Dating Game", but now I see the truth. And I am living to the best of my abilities to follow God's plan, and to trust him and put the matter entirely in God's hands.

I appreciate all of you (the readers) taking the time to hear me out and to read this drawn out explanation. I hope that reading this has made a difference in the way you view romance, and I pray that all of you will will act on this and let God rule your life in all aspects.