This weekend Steve Tanner talked about our last topic in the Back to Basics series, it’s been an interesting few weeks speaking on Love, Sex and Dating! Interestingly the Bible doesn’t say much about dating, but there is a lot of information in the Bible about right relationships and what better place to be sure to experience right relationships than in dating and marriage!?!
Steve shared a very interesting quote by June Hunt “Some singles approach dating as a demoralizing waiting game, others a desperate mating game, still others a deceitful baiting game” At the core their mindset is, I have to have someone to meet my needs, but God’s view of dating is very different.
If we look at what Jesus taught, we can find the core values of relationship between God and Man and then conversely between people. Jesus taught us our main value in relationship with Him is to LOVE him with our entire soul, mind and all our strength…so focus on relationship with Him first. THEN to love our neighbor as we do ourselves. You can find the entire verse in Matthew 22:37-40. Jesus said these were the greatest commandments. LOVE GOD…LOVE OTHERS! So, if we walk that concept further into a dating relationship, maybe it could be as simple as becoming the kind of person you would want to be with!
Become the kind of person YOU would want to BE WITH!?! Well, HOW do you go about doing that? Steve laid out some steps he encouraged us to walk in…
First, he encouraged us to build on the right foundation. Go deep in your faith walk, study the Bible, pray, get closer to God! In other words, work on learning how to love God with all your heart, soul and mind! As you are working on your walk with God, start developing your “true worth” understanding what God says about you and how he feels about you rather than falling into a trap of comparison and worth based on worldly values (career, net worth, home, car you drive, body build, etc.) Remember that NO PERSON can ever complete you…your worth is bound up in Jesus! Thirdly, trust God’s timing. I know this may be easier said than done but know ultimately God’s plan and timing will be better than anything you can imagine! Lastly, BE SMART! In the world we live in there are going to be all sorts of pressures, temptations, and ideologies pulling you away from the heart of God…remember in all these things to put FIRST God’s plan and will for relationships and literally run away from anything that even remotely tries to pull you away from the truth of the Bible.
Life is hard, as we say often; you are either just finishing a crisis, in the middle of one or it’s coming for you just up ahead. BE prepared for these crises, be them relational, health, jobs, family…the closer you are to the heart of Jesus, the easier you will be able to manage calamity!
To listen to this past weekend’s talk…click here.