One of the things that I hear pop up into conversation a lot when the conversation is on dating is, "The bible has no verses specifically on dating."
Well, what if I tell you there is, you just have to look and dive in.
In the next two blogs, I am going to share with you two of my favorite verses. I have broken down each verse into several guidelines about dating.
Dating is a serious topic for me, I have made for my self a lot of rules and stipulations. I want my dating period to be God-honoring. From the words of my previous youth pastor, "I want God to look down on how I am dating and start dancing!" He always had a fun way of putting things, but yes this is exactly what I want! I want God to look down at how I am living this stage of my life out.
To read my blog on some of my dating stipulations, click here!
Ok, since you are all caught up let us begin!
Ok, the verse that I want to break down for you today is 1 Timothy 6:11!
"....Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness."
Pursue Righteousness:
Another way I word this is, morals, boundaries, whatever you prefer to call them. Y'all you need to set up some boundaries, even if you are already dating and haven't really thought about it you need to set them up! If you have them it will help you along the way. Like most of you have read my blog where I talk about one of mine is that I wasn't going to even pursue the thought of dating any guy until I was 18.
Your boundaries are yours, I can't tell you what will work for you, so this is something you will have to think about and set for yourself.
I know I can get a little bit into my little fantasy world and lose my head a little, so because of this, I listen to my parents. They have been through the world of dating, so I trust their advice. When any guy wants to ask me out on a date, I will have them go and ask my dad. This will eliminate a big portion of the wrong guys. Then, the guys that do talk to my dad; this will help my dad get a feel for the guy and to see if he's a guy worth my time because I am not one to date just for a fun time. My dad wants to see if this guy is serious about this.
So, in saying all of this set up your boundaries to pursue righteousness.
GODLINESS & FAITH:
I can't say this enough..... Do not get emotionally involved with a guy who is not a Christian! This will just lead to nothing but heartbreak. Not only will he not have the same morals as you, but you two will be on two very different paths in life. Your path is to glorify the Lord, and his is not. He will not understand this.
"But, he is a nice guy, and he might become a Christian."
Don't think you can save or change them.
God can save them and open their eyes to see His glory just fine on his own; He can do this without putting your heart on the line.
"He goes to church."
That may be so, but please watch closely on how they act outside of the church. I have met several guys, who are one thing in church, and a completely different person outside of the church. Now, I know people make mistakes, believe me, I do. But, if some real big red flags are popping up please do not ignore them!! Eventually, his true colors will show, and you don't want it to be after you are already emotionally attached.
This is an area that I do heed my parents' advice extremely seriously.
Love:
Ok, I never got why some people treat dating as a game. To me, I just think that is leading up to a bunch of heartache.
How I took this point was about marriage. Your goal in dating is finding your potential husband. Don't just date for fun, date with a purpose!
I know that sounded a little hallmark worthy. But it is true!
In the Bible, it basically goes from singleness to marriage. That is why you don't find a lot of talk on dating. Because that is the way God designed it. We are supposed to find the partner he created for us. Not just skipping around trying to find the right guy. Granted, you need to know the guy first before you just jump into marriage! Haha, don't get me wrong!
Become friends with him first, get to know him well enough to know if this is a guy you might be interested in pursuing the next step. Ask your parents' opinion, and if you don't have parents that you can ask these kinds of questions to, go to your church and I am sure there will be an older couple that will be honored to help you out on this. Then, not particularly in this order please, ask and pray to God about this guy.
Some of you may be like, "Really? God doesn't want to hear about my guy problems!"
But the truth is, yes He does! He cares about you and wants to hear about all of your problems, He actually celebrates in it, because that means that you are trusting Him, and love Him enough to come forward with your problems. Sometimes, it's not easy for us to talk to people, let alone God with our problems or questions. But, He already knows what you are struggling over! He is just waiting for you to completely surrender and run into His arms for guidance and help.
Steadfastness:
Steadfastness or being faithful. This one goes both ways. Not only do you need to find a guy that will be faithful to you, but you need to need to be faithful to him. There is no relationship if it isn't built on trust.
Gentleness:
I changed gentleness to kindness. This is another one that you are going to have to look out for because any guy will be on his best behavior when he is around you. So, you are going to have to watch how he interacts with other people.
An example I heard from a pastor talking to teenage girls about what they need to look for in a guy was this, "If a guy is nice to you but talks back and downgrades his mother, that is a big red flag." Mainly because it is not just gonna stop with his mother, eventually he's going to treat you the same way.
Ok, y'all well this was just a little break down on this verse. Next week, I will be going over another one of my "dating'' verses. Hope y'all enjoyed this!! Talk to you soon! Love y'all!
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