From dating to marriage

I definitely do not expect everyone to agree with me.

Godly wisdom is a wide stream, and God’s word often allows us to apply his heart and wisdom in remarkably different ways, even in dating. It came in many forms, but it goes something like this: So, I started paying tuition, registered for classes, purchased the textbooks, jumped into relationship after relationship, and never looked back — until I wanted my money back.

This way you will choose the best for you and you will see yourself as being the best for someone.

For instance, one popular Christian dating book reads, “Dating is an incubator time of discovering the opposite sex, one’s own sexual feelings, moral limits, one’s need for relationship skills, and one’s tastes for people.” Sounds practical and reasonable on the surface.

Until you think about putting yourself (or your daughter) into someone else’s “incubator” for a few months, or years, while he or she tries out their “sexual feelings” and “moral limits.” We put too much of ourselves at risk in dating to donate our hearts to someone’s romantic experiment.

Dating is an intentional pursuit of marriage, not casual preparation for it.

Unfortunately, many of us are being told we must date early and often if we ever want to be ready for marriage.

A dating relationship is a marriage covenant, but the spiritual and emotional stakes are still high.

If we are honest with ourselves, we will admit that the liberties many of us take in dating are more likely to harm our future marriage (and our significant other’s future marriage) than they are to prepare us for marriage.

The truth is we have given dating far too much credit, and far too much power in our pursuit of marriage.

And because we misunderstand and misuse dating, we end up making more and greater mistakes in our search for love.

Many times a good love is rushed and ends up burning the two. Sufficiently know the person before committing, know what you are getting yourself into. Talk more than “I love you”, do more than fancy dates.