Christian Dating: What To Do

for every Christian that has a desire to be married I'm sure the thought of dating has crossed their mind it must be nice to have someone you love and for that person to love you back and to have the opportunity to live life with them to go out have some coffee maybe watch a movie or learn something new together dating could be a very good thing in it you can potentially find your future spouse and at the same time dating can be a harmful and potentially destructive thing if done incorrectly the Christian who enters into

a dating relationship with someone must be cautious as they move their relationship forward and before I continue I do want to mention that dating does look different for a lot of people but regardless of the relationship these four guidelines should be applied to everyone if they want to date God's way so let's get started guideline number one set up physical boundaries Song of Songs chapter 8 verse 4. I charge you o Daughters of Jerusalem do not stir up nor awaken love until it pleases these words were spoken by the lover of King Solomon this woman

was known as the shulamite and her and King Solomon were madly in love with each other and they shared passionate and intense affection and in her love she said to the people do not stir up nor awaken love until it pleases and what she was saying here is that timing must be considered when it a romance look at first Thessalonians chapter 4 verse 3. for this is the will of God your sanctification that you should abstain from sexual immorality you see when it comes to the Bible any sexual act that is outside the context of

marriage is sexual immorality and this passage tells us that it's God's will for us to abstain or stay away from sexual immorality and fornication or in other words sex outside of marriage is sexual immorality so if you're dating please note that you must do everything in your power to keep your relationship holy and undefiled before God and this can be difficult because if you really love your boyfriend or girlfriend you'll want to be close and if you're not careful touch can turn into an Embrace and that Embrace can lead to you and your partner committing

sexual immorality which is the very thing God wants you to run away from so what are you allowed to do should you be allowed to hug hold hands kiss are you allowed to be alone together in your car consider Romans Chapter 13 Verse 14 but put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lusts this passage tells us to get rid of anything in our lives that makes it easier for us to sin look I'm not going to tell you what you should and shouldn't do because every dating

relationship is different with their own unique strengths and struggles but what I will tell you is that it would be wise and advantageous for you and your future marriage if you keep yourselves untainted from the guilt and shame that comes with embracing sin so don't position yourselves in a place that makes it easier for you to sin don't awaken love until it pleases and it pleases most when you do things God's way and In God's Time guideline number two check their Pace second Corinthians chapter 6 verse 14 do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers

for what Fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness and what communion has light with Darkness now this yolk is not an egg yolk this yolk is a piece of wood that connects to oxen so that both of them can carry a load because both oxen are connected it's important that both be about the same size and have similar levels of strength because if one Ox is weaker than the other the load they pull won't be able to move forward actually they'll go around in circles as opposed to successfully carrying the weight that they were supposed to now

we can draw many truths from this passage for one God says we as Believers shouldn't be unequally yoked or connected with unbelievers so in the context of dating Christians should not be dating or romantically connected with people who aren't Christian why because one person will want to follow God and the other wounds which will lead to one of two things either the Christian will be hindered in the relationship as they pursue God or it will lead to compromise another point I'd like to add is to consider this passage even if both the boyfriend and girlfriend

are Christian you see some people call themselves Christian but they aren't really that serious or they lack a real relationship with God and these kinds of Christians can be more of a weight or a hindrance in a romantic relationship and can possibly lead to being unequally yoked spiritually speaking and this would look like one person in the relationship pursuing God and taking steps to move forward in their faith while the other one is indifferent or doesn't make it a goal to grow further so when you're dating I would encourage you to pay attention to both

of your Paces when it comes to following God are you moving in a Godly direction that you both want at a pace that you both desire guideline number three live life not fantasy second Timothy Chapter 2 verses three to four you therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ no one engaged in Warfare entangles himself with the Affairs of this life that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier for people who think the Christian life is always full of happy smiles and warm hugs you're wrong the Bible describes the

Christian walk as being likened to war with its fair share of struggles hardships casualties and losses so as you're dating you must remember that real life can be difficult and I think sometimes when people date people like escaping reality and they go to the movie theater and they go on these expensive dates at fancy restaurants and they go to amusement parks and that's fine and all but dating should also include living real life together anyone can be in a good mood when you're doing fun hikes and staring at each other's eyes at a candle at

dinner in a restaurant but how does your partner respond when there's bills to to pay money to managed or rooms to clean and how about if they have a family to take care of and responsibilities to prioritize now I'm not saying that those fancy nights out are wrong no date nights are good and can promote communication and intimacy but real life doesn't look like that every day life goes on and it requires a lot of hard work Conflict Management effective communication and acts of service that can be inconvenient at the moment so for some dates

try making a meal or try doing your homework together or clean or do laundry the idea is to look at your schedule and see what you regularly do and then do those things together so you can see what living life looks like with them at your side guideline number four love God more than your partner Mark chapter 12 30 and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart with all your soul with all your mind and with all your strength this is the first commandment this thought is one that every Christian must

always have at the Forefront of their mind and it's I must love God more than everyone and everything and that includes my significant other here's the thing love looks very different for everyone people are unique therefore the love relationships that they share with others will also be unique so while I can give you guidelines on what you can do God must lead your relationship not me if you're dating now you should be praying more and reading the Bible more to see if this person that you're seeing is someone that God wants for you look you

need God in your relationship you need his help his leading his wisdom his encouragement and his support God is the god of love and if you aren't connected to him you won't be able to love your partner the way that he wants you to it it's God in his word that will correct you and he may actually bring you to a place where you realize that you need a breakup so remember God is your god and the king of your life if he tells you to love then love he tells you to serve serve and

if he tells you to let go let go either way love God more and follow him as he leads you according to his spirit and his word so the big topic Christian dating so whether you're dating now or have plans to date in the future remember these four guidelines guideline number one set up physical boundaries guideline number two check their Pace yours and your partners guideline number three live life not fantasy in guideline number four love God more than your partner alright so we hope this helps and in all your dating or future dating never

forget Jesus loves you