Feb 6, 2010

Romance: How Much Is Too Much? (Part Two)


Why is guarding our hearts important?

Let’s use the story of the King and the gifts again. Suppose the person who had the gift they were supposed to give to you gave it away to someone else. How would you feel if you received less than the whole gift? Yeah, me too.

So, if you would be disappointed by someone recklessly giving your gift away, why would you recklessly give their gift away?

Remember that the gift the King has given you is called your heart. Philippians 2:3-5 instructs us as Believers in Christ, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus….” If this is how we should live, then how can giving your heart away be justified? Your future mate should have every bit of the gift God has given you to give. That is how God created it to be; He made one man and one woman for each other. He did not make a bunch of people and tell them, “Ok, go have fun!” He said, “… each man should have his own wife, and each woman her own husband.” (1 Corinthians 7:2)

Romance is a good thing, created by God. But it can be misused by those who are not yet ready for it. We are ready for it when we are ready to be married, and not before.

Be very wary of making emotional connections with the opposite gender. It does not matter how fun it seems at the time. Later on, what will you have to give the person you marry? Imagine if you save yourself for your mate. If everything you do together after your marriage is a first for both of you. Seriously, stop reading and muse over it.

I do not mean just your first kiss. How about your first candlelight dinner? Your first, “I love you?” Imagine how connected you could be to this one person! Doesn’t that sound like something you could want?

The question should not be, “How much can I get away with?” But, “How much can I reserve for the one God has for me?”

The third and final part is coming tomorrow.

Post Tenebras Lux!
-ST

2 comments:

Nathan R. Petrie said...

Great post again :)

You said "be wary of emotional connections with the opposite gender" and "how can giving your heart away be justified? Your future mate should have every bit of the gift God has given you to give."

A friendship of any sort is an emotional connection. Is this wrong? NO. That's honorable. Keeping things as a deep friendship, treating each other with respect and honor. The man should protect the woman's heart and body while still loving her. But he is not forbidden to love her. Love has many levels. Judge a person before letting them into your deep circle. You should be able to tell who will protect you and who will seek to harm you.

But I agree. Dating for fun is dumb. It will crush you and hurt you. I'm against most cases of teen dating. Simply because it is unneeded pain. But I think there are some who remain honorable.

Storyteller SilverLoom said...

Keeneye, A friend born of real 1 Cor. 13 love, the love we are supposed to show everyone, is not wrong. Respect and honor is something we should show to everyone.

I am not saying that we should seclude ourselves from everybody in the opposite gender. Goodness, no! The Bible says to go into the world, not seclude ourselves from it.

Of course, we all know people of the opposite gender. We are supposed to be friendly. I am not saying the friendships are wrong, only that, in our friendships it is best to be careful.

Likewise, there is a difference between dating and friendships. You can be friends and not be dating, right?

I am trying very hard to see it from your point of view Keeneye. If I misunderstood you again, then please forgive me and perhaps elaborate. Danke!