Are you a single Christian waiting for a spouse? Have you tasted the waters of different men or women in search of "the one," only to walk away thirsty? Is there a best way to prepare for your future husband or wife?
In this short, easy to grasp eB...
Chapter 2: Relocating Your Heart For Your Future Spouse
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First things first: if you are serious about honoring God by honoring your future spouse, youmust do what Christ commanded:
And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It's better to enter eternal life with only one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.-Matthew 18:9
In this verse, Jesus used hyperbole to show how serious unrepentant sin is. It can cost you your soul and land you in hell, a place Jesus clearly taught existed. There are certain sins, like fornication, or any sexual immorality, that will send you to hell unless you trust in Jesus' sacrifice on the cross for you and resurrection from the dead, and prove you believe by actually following Him. If you're sinning with your ex or the person you're currently with, you've got some trimming to do.
Cut off all ties to every ex, or if you're in a relationship with someone you shouldn't be with, end it. Look out! Stop and pray! The devil is already shooting arrows of excuses at your heart and they can easily bypass your ability to reason and hijack your brain. Rebuke Satan in Jesus' name and ask God to help you be totally open to His will. Did you pray? Okay great, we're ready to pick up from where we left off.
Are you still following your ex on social media? Is his number still on your phone? Do you still have pictures together saved on your hard-drive or in your room? Delete, delete, delete! You need to relocate, to pack up and move out, maybe even literally.
Picking a spouse is the second most important decision you will ever make in your entire life. The first of course, is choosing to follow Jesus. When you get married, you literally unify your soul with another person. "The two will become one." (See Mark 10:6-9). Eventually, you build a family with this person. And once you have children, you are no longer just accountable for your soul, but for theirs, too! The bible admonishes us to raise children in the training and admonition of the Lord, aka Yahweh, which means "God is one." There's only one true God, but if you're married to someone who isn't following Him, you are setting your kids up to be confused, lost souls. You'll tell them Jesus is God, but then your spouse will say, or behave otherwise. Your poor children will be utterly torn. Who do I trust? Mom, or Dad, or since they can't even agree, I can't trust either of them so I just won't believe at all, or worship another god altogether. And this outcome will make Yahweh angry:
Judah has dealt treacherously, And an abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem, For Judah has profaned The LORD's holy institution which He loves: He has married the daughter of a foreign god. May the LORD cut off from the tents of Jacob The man who does this, being awake and aware, Yet who brings an offering to the LORD of hosts .... did He not make them one, Having a remnant of the Spirit? And why one? He seeks godly offspring. Therefore take heed to your spirit ... (Malachi 2:11-12, 15 NKJV)
God takes relationships very seriously. In fact, they are His top priority. Primarily, He is concerned for His relationship with you, hence the first commandment: You shall love Yahweh with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength. And what is the second greatest commandment? To love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:36-40). But if you're fooling around with someone you're not sure about marrying someday, or not even thinking about marrying, how is that honoring God and loving that person as you love yourself? Would you want someone having access to your heart and body who may very well throw both away someday and move on to another person? Is that how God treats us? Does He temporarily accept us, entering a relationship with us only to abandon us when He gets bored, or finds someone He deems better? Of course not! His love is faithful.
If you give Him your heart, He makes sure He takes care of it, and He expects no less of us in regard to our human relationships—especially if you are a Christian. As His adopted child through trusting in the sacrifice and resurrection of His Son, you are held doubly accountable to represent God on this earth. We are to be reflections of Him, displaying His character to all of those around us.
Do you think we can treat people like we do our underwear and He'll overlook it? Certainly not! He stands ready to judge even those who claim to belong to Him, and He will judge us more harshly because we are supposed to know better. So I plead with you out of fear for God, who says in His Word:
Finally then, brothers, we ask and encourage you in the Lord Jesus, that as you have received from us how you must walk and please God — as you are doing — do so even more. For you know what commands we gave you through the Lord Jesus. For this is God's will, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality, so that each of you knows how to control his own body in sanctification and honor, not with lustful desires, like the Gentiles who don't know God. This means one must not transgress against and defraud his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger of all these offenses, as we also previously told and warned you. For God has not called us to impurity but to sanctification. Therefore, the person who rejects this does not reject man, but God, who also gives you His Holy Spirit. (1 Thessalonians 4:1-8 HCSB)
Once you've cut off all sexually immoral relationships, you are able to better protect your heart for God's sake and your future spouse's.
