"Love, Dating, Relationships - Godly?"

No blog is complete with the writer's two cents on love, dating, and relationships right? Well this one will have a slightly different perspective. I'm going to share with you what God has been showing me about this.

"God must come first."

First and foremost God must come first. You will never and I repeat never know what it's like to experience a Godly relationship if you or your mate doesn't make God his/her first priority. Now you may say,

"Mark, that's kind of a bold statement isn't it?"
True. But let me explain further.

If you truly want to experience true love in a relationship with someone they need to have God's love for you. Like Christ has for the Church. They must love God more than they love you or will ever love you and you must be prepared to do the same back.

Have you ever met someone who strangely always put God first? Even when they were thrown a relationship opportunity they felt the need to pray about it first? Who do think is control of that person's life? The world would say they were nuts, or they should just go for it. But they are in a totally different boat and no matter what storms come along, as long as they are putting God first they will never sink. Why? Because the love they are living for is God's love and nothing can separate us from it.

"For I am persuaded beyond doubt - am sure- that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities nor powers, nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Romans 8:38,39

"Skin Deep is as shallow as it sounds."

Have you ever been talking to someone and they share with you how they just met the man or woman of their dreams? Well I have news for them. Dreams can also be nightmares. That's like being on a motor boat heading full speed straight for a beautiful exotic island but having no knowledge of how to slow the thing down. Unless you've got the ultimate form of direction (God's direction) you're likely heading for a crash.

"God is interested in building a compatibility structure in a relationship not just a physical attraction."

I like the story of the woman who would only date tall guys. If they weren't tall she would say, "He's nice but he's just not my type." So she dates and soon marries a tall guy. Now every time she wants to get a box of cereal from the cupboard she needs to stand on a chair. She explains this inconvenience to her husband but he refuses to compromise. Says it hurts his back to be bending to reach things. "

"If you weren't so short we wouldn't have this problem," he retorts. She says nothing. A strain falls on the first few months of the marriage.

Then there's the guy's story. All his friends know him as having the highest standards for women. He won't date anything less than a "ten". So he dates and soon marries a women who in his mind is a drop dead gorgeous bonafide "ten". Until he meets her friends. Who just happen to be 11's and 12's. All of a sudden there's an ongoing strain on the marriage in regards to flirting. Hmmm... I wonder why?

Both stories have something in common. They were both based on superficial foundations. The only foundation is Christ. The strongest compatibility is with someone who truly lives out their salvation. Not just a church service. It's a 24/7 passion to serve God. And the privilege to serve God with them is nothing more than a small miracle and a tremendous blessing and gift from heaven.

In summary, the next time you feel you need someone romantically in your life ponder these thoughts:

1. What am I doing as a single person to serve God's Kingdom?

2. Am I willing to wait and trust God that in the event I were to meet someone he/she would be there to help me serve God and their DNA would compliment my life in ways that would only make me enjoy life more?

God bless.