| This question came up again recently. Here are some thoughts I presented a fews years back. I believe that the points presented in this blog are are still relevant.
Many people have asked me why sex before marriage is such a big problem? They say something like this: “If two people love each other, why should they wait until they are married before having sex?”. The question looks reasonable at first, however when you think about it, you realize that what is happening to us today, is that people are generally not willing to pay for what they want. People want to be rich without working, they want to be famous without hard work, they want to get everything free. However, the truth is that Nothing is Free. The fact that you did not pay for it does not mean that it was not paid for. You may get it free, but someone paid the price. Now what I think people are asking is this. Why do I have to be committed to a relationship before I get all the benefits of commitment? When you look at it like that, you see why sex before marriage is dangerous. It’s like selling your house with the hope that you will sign the contracts at a later date. Here are 5 reasons why this is a dangerous idea. I believe that everything that God calls a sin is called a sin because it is destructive to us and to the general well-being of the created universe. So in this article I am presenting the reasons why sex before marriage is dangerous and hence sinful.
There are many other points that can be derived from these initial points, and I encourage you to think about them. If you have been involved in pre-marital sex, are you still with the man you had sex with? If you have chosen to live your life to glorify God, why not go all the way and enjoy the blessings that God has prepared for you within a Christian Marriage. No one can force you to wait until your wedding day. And so also no one can give you the joy and blessings that are lost when you choose to follow your own ideas rather than God’s Ideal. Even if you are not a virgin, you can still enjoy the blessings of God. Our God is merciful, he forgives because of the blood of Jesus. Simply ask for God’s forgiveness and choose not to continue in your folly. You will soon start to enjoy the respect and love that you deserve as a child of God. I have never met anyone that said that the regretted waiting until marriage to have sex. There are many people who wish they have waited because they have been with so many people and have been sexually active only for the relationship to break. It may not be easy but God can help you: I have heard many men say that there are no virgins above the age of 18yrs. That is not true; there are very many people who are virgins (never had sexual intercourse) and many who are not virgins but since they received forgiveness of sins through Christ Jesus, they have remained sexually inactive (virgins in Christ). It is not by self effort that you will do it especially if you have been sexually active before now, it is simply by trusting in the grace and power of God to do it in you. Do not be worried, just believe in God. I will love to answer your questions, please let us know them or simply leave us a comment. |
Month: May 2012
Say No To Dating! Yes to friendship and courtship
Should a christian be dating? First let us define dating! Basically there are many different schools of thought on the meaning of dating. Formally it means to go out socially. A date is supposed to be a social outing that helps two people get to know each other better, it is meant to be a social outing where two people can get to talk and find out some basic information about each other. Over the years it has gradually become more and more difficult to define because over time, people going out for these social outings have used it as opportunities to express sexual attraction and in many cases, the first date ends in a kiss, “making-out”, and many times different levels of sexual exposures. I believe as the lines of definition of what a date meant became blured over the years, more and more people have become confused about dating and now it does more harm than good.
My Definition of Dating
A man and woman are said to be dating when they call themselves boyfriend and girlfriend; or when they act like a couple although they do not officially call themselves a couple; when they spend more than 50% of their free time together doing things together (not in a group) without a clear definition of their relationship. It is this definition of dating that I want everyone to say no to. Any type of social outing in which a kiss is expected to be given at the end is not what Christian Marriage is about. I would advice anyone who is interested in finding a spouse in the Kingdom of God to run from such an idea.
5 reasons why you should consider saying no to dating
1) Dating blinds your eyes to other potential partners while you are dating – Since the two individuals begin to act as a couple from the first date, they inadvertently shut the door to the possibilities of meeting other potential partners. I would suggest that singles should be more involved in quality friendships and only move the relationship to the next level when at least one of them is convinced that they are willing take this to marriage.
2) Dating clouds your ability to hear the voice of God (or your inner witness) – As Chrisitians we believe that God speaks to us and guides us in our daily living. Once you begin a relationship by becoming emotionally attached and physically involved, it becomes quite difficult to be open to whatever God will say with regards to the one you are attached to. We would tend to try to get God to approve of our choice rather than letting God guide our choice.
3) It may lead easily to sex before marriage – Once you begin to see a person as that special one, and you start being physically and emotionally attached the pressure to show a little more affection increases. If you are not yet interested in marriage and you are being pressured to show affection, you will soon move from holding hands to things that you never planned to do. There are people who say, we did not have a kiss on the first date and we will keep it like that until we decide what next we are doing, only to find themselves making out and even having sex and destroying a relationship that may have blossomed gradually into a beautiful friendship or marriage.
4) It leads to more heartbreaks – By the time an average boy or girl is married he or she has been heart broken a good number of times. Though we may think that these heartbreaks are not so bad, they do influence the way we think and how we approach love. A person who has broken up with someone about 5 – 10 times will tend to think that everyone is selfish or self centered and that he should protect himself. On the other hand, if a boy chooses not to date but have quality friends, he would simply not take the relationship to the next level and avoid the heartbreak and the subsequent negative outlook on love and relationships in general.
5) It makes the marriage weak – Since the two decided to marry each other based on the fact that they had spent a long time together and they felt like they knew each other, they find it really difficult to work on the marriage when either they find another person who they are attracted to or they are just going through some difficulties in their marriage. On the other hand, if you take the time to make friends, you get to know how different people are and you are able to make a choice based on inner conviction and wisdom rather than an emotional rush which quickly fades away when one person fails or there is a very difficult situation like sickness.
My Recommendations
1) Make more friends of the opposite gender, be genuinely interested in people; I find that everyone is blessed with one gift or the other. Don’t group people into “marryabbe” or “not-marryable”. Just be a blessing to anyone that is open to being blessed. If they become rude and continue to ask for a date when you know (from inner conviction) that you are not interested in pursuing that route, be firm and reduce your communication to pass across the message but continue to be kindly disposed to them in your heart. God has a way of taking care of those who abandon their own interest to take care of others. That being said, you should still take care of yourself, develop your walk with God, your career and let God find you a spouse that will suit His plans for you.
2) Learn to love who you are and be honest about who you are – Try not to be tempted to try to impress people by changing facts about yourself to conform to what you think or they say they want. It is better to loose the friendship now than much later when they find out who you truly are. There are many people out there who are looking for someone just like you.
3) When you find someone you are attracted to, try to become their friends – you want to be sure that they are who they truly appear to be before you let your emotions run.
4) Only go exclusive with a person when you are mostly convinced that you would want it to go towards marriage. Pray much and consider getting counsel from people who know you and you trust before even letting your emotions go all the way.
Conclusions – Although these suggestions may look dated and difficult to follow, I would like to encourage you that you will save yourself a good deal of pain by following these Biblical principles.
Ask Jesus into your Marriage – A wedding sermon
On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Now both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding. 3 And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, “They have no wine.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servants, “Whatever He says to you, do it.” Now there were set there six waterpots of stone, according to the manner of purification of the Jews, containing twenty or thirty gallons apiece. Jesus said to them, “Fill the waterpots with water.”And they filled them up to the brim. And He said to them, “Draw some out now, and take it to the master of the feast.” And they took it. When the master of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom. And he said to him, “Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior. You have kept the good wine until now!” (John 2: 1-10)
The story about this wedding in Cana is always a blessing to me. I always wonder what would have hapened if the couple had decided to leave Jesus and his disciples out of their guest list. What would they have done when they ran out of wine? You know running out of wine at the wedding could also be symbolic of running out of wine in the marriage itself. Anyone who has been married knows that wine can run out of any marriage – you suddenly discover that you really do not want him to come near you right now, the laughter seems to have dissappeared, no more dates, flowers are no where to be found, the joy seemed to have just run out… just like wine at the wedding, although we realise that wine has run out suddenly, it really does not happen suddenly. The wine runs out gradually because it is not being replaced, it happens because we have assumed that we have enough – that there is no need to worry about replacement. The message today however is that regardless of how it happend, this couple had been wise enough or fortunate enough to invite Jesus to their wedding. I encourage you today to invite Jesus into your marriage.
Inviting Jesus is not enough
If you have invited Jesus into your marriage, I salute your wisdom; however I must remind you that inviting Jesus is not enough. You must go to the next level. Whenever there is a problem you need to bring that problem to Jesus. It’s so easy to start your marriage in church and to invite Jesus at the beginning of the marriage but then when the wine runs out we attack each other rather than going to Jesus. We forget that He is able to turn water to wine. Brother and Sister, when that day comes when you dont know what to do – before you cry, before you complain remember to ask Jesus.
Asking Jesus is not enough
Many times we do go beyond inviting Jesus. Some of us actually go on to ask for help, but there is something about Jesus that scares us. His instructions are usually different. I would like to highlight 4 characteristics about the instructions that Jesus gives:
- They are usually quite simple and doable – How hard can it be to put water into the waterpots? And in your relationship, how hard can it be to say the word sorry? How hard can it be to show respect to your spouse. To do the dishes this night without asking your spouse?
- They may not look reasonable, fashionable or comfortable – Yes although they may be easy to do in terms of the actual action, but many times we are unwilling to do them because of the emotional issues we would have to deal with in other to carry out Christs instructions.
- They usually look unconnected to the immediate issue
- However they always bring miraculous results if followed. This is the reason why we must be careful to make sure that whatever He tells us to do we do it.
Today my charge to you and to all those who are here today is the charge that Mary the mother of Jesus gave to those people at the wedding. I can only imagine what would have happen if no one gave them this very crucial tip. I guess they would have ignored the instructions like many of us have done in the past. Today dear friends, listen to what Mary the mother of Jesus says. Whatever he tells you to do, do it.
If Jesus tells you to take your spouse out for dinner, please do it. If you need to be quite about a situation that you think you have to speak about, please be quite. Follow the instructions of Christ that He drops in your heart rather than what your emotional reactions wants to do. Your marriage will be strong and robust if you are able to do what Jesus tells you to do. May the blessing of the Lord multiply upon your marriage.
Increase your own pay
What is the difference between the guy that is paid $8/hr and the one that is paid $100/hr? You got it right – It’ s the value of their skills. If you have a skill that everybody has, you will be paid minimum wage. If you imporve yourself and you differentiate yourslef from the crowd by having superior skills, you will be valued more and you will find someone who will be willing to pay your more for your valueable skills. Here is a list of 10 ways that you can use to improve your value.
- Read a lot; especially personal development books – This is one of the least expensive ways of acquiring new skills. There are many books, videos, ebooks that one can read on virtually any topic. Make it a habit to regularly read, listen to or watch something that can help you do what you do better or help you learn something new that will contribute to being better skilled.
- Take a course
- Practice
- Listen to people that are ahead of you
- Help others to develop
- Try new things
- Find people who are interested in the skills you have
- Concentrate on developing your strengths
- Learn inter-personal skill
- Be open to criticisms
Disposable Era, Disposable Marriage?
When I was a little girl we had the nice black and white TV that my dad loved so much. I dont know the story behind how he got this relic but I know that he was so careful about the way we used the TV. This TV had a personal repair man, we call him Uncle Faj., a man very good at what he did. Anytime this TV had a problem, we all knew the next step- book an appointment with Uncle Faj. He will either come home to fix the TV or have us bring it into his store and before you know it, it’s working fine again. We used this TV for so long that my dad was not going to change it for the new color TVs, this one is better he will say, until it became more cost efficient to buy a new one.
Why did I tell you this story? Because I wanted to compare it with the culture we have today predominantly in the western world. Its costs so much to repair any gadget so we are left with little choice when it comes to repairing anything.When your microwave is broken, what do you do? Pay $100 to fix it or pay $100 to buy a new one. While a few older people will prefer to fix the old one, many of us will buy a new one. Why fix it if I can get a newer model with more capabilities for almost the same price?
The irony of this is that we hardly find repair shops around. No one is attracted to the maintenance and repair related careers. Everyone wants to build something new; everyone wants to be a star.
This might sound like its not a big deal, but it affects our generation more than we know. The same way our gadgets have become disposable, the same way our relationships have become disposable. Whenever there is a misunderstanding in a relationship, the first thought today day is “may be we are not even compatible”. The moment someone says something about their own relationship that you don’t have in yours, you think “my partner is not one of the best around and doesn’t appreciate me, if not why is he not doing so and so for me like it is in every other relationship”. Or when someone says something about your relationship that you don’t like, its like a confirmation in your mind that this is not right and you begin to think of new people that can make you satisfied.
I am not trying to say that its wrong to evaluate your relationship. My question is are you evaluating to confirm your conclusion that your partner is not good or are you evaluating to see ways to maintain and improve your relationship. For a car to work well and last long, it needs to visit the garage for a regular oil change and sometimes get some tunes ups done. For your marriage to work well and last long, you need to add some regular oil change to your marriage routine. You need to work on your marriage with a maintenance mind set not a disposal mind set.
The idea is not to wait till there is a problem before looking at your option but from the first day of your marriage know that your oil changes are very important and schedule them. This might be:
- setting a date night once a week or month depending on both your schedules.
- setting a time to hang out with other couples that are doing well in order to learn from them.
- attending a marrige workshop once in a while.
- doing something for your partner with the mind of love not because you need a reward from them…
No one goes out with the mind of purposefully discarding their relationship however, this is what happens when everyone neglects the place of actively working on their marriage. Life has some very genuine distractions: career, children, extended family, church, friend… All these add flavour to each life and are essential but none must take you away from actively investing quality time with the man or woman you fell in love with. Like my Dad’s black and white TV, your marriage needs to have a personal maintenance mentor.
How to make your marriage sweeter – men
This is an article I prepared some time ago for a magazine. The article is targeted for men, but a lot of women can benefit from it too. In this article, my aim was to give men some tips on how to keep a good relationship going and to take it to a new level. I appeal to my female readers to bear with my overly masculine undertone. I wanted the men to wake up and make their women happy. Enjoy and give me your feedback.
Take Charge – The Man must be willing to take control of the home, he must be willing to create an atmosphere in which the woman is comfortable to follow him. She wants to be able to relax as if her protector, friend or guide is in charge. It’s the kind of feeling you have when a trusted person is handling your vehicle. You are able to sleep, knowing fully well that you will arrive at the destination safely. How can this be done practically? By being patient, by reassuring your wife all the time and I guess you can come up with more.
Learn to be Kind – A woman will do anything in the world for you if you put them at ease about their faults; build up their strong points. You need to reach the high level of kindness that says, I love you for who you are. I love you the way you are and I am ever so glad to have you in my life. What I believe most people want, is someone that is willing to take time to know them and after knowing them is willing to accept them just like they are able to accept themselves. If you make it your business to know your wife, and you make up your mind that no matter what you discover, you will help her to be what she wants to be, you will discover a world of happiness and joy known only to few men. What are some of the things your wife does so well? Tell her you notice and you appreciate them.
Start at the Mirror – You must start by working on yourself. If you try to make your spouse better, you will only fail. Can You say 3 or 4 things you plan to do better this week? It is fast becoming common knowledge that if you want to change someone, you change yourself. Always learn to ask this question – What can I change in me, that will help my darling to be better at _______? Place whatever you want her to be better at in the blank.
Ask her to help you grow – Be honest with your wife, accept that you are not perfect, ask her to help you be a good husband. And most importantly – MEAN IT. BE READY TO TRY OUT HER ADVICE. The same applies to the wife. It is possible that what she would say will knock you off your feet; However if you are a strong man ready to make your home a paradise on earth, make up your mind that your first reaction to her advice will be thank you. You must not defend yourself or retaliate. Your wife needs to feel that she is needed in your life. She wants to feel indispensable.
Communicate all the time – It’s important that you speak honestly to each other about your inner feelings. Not just things that happen outside but how you feel inside. The way you evaluate the depth of a relationship is how much of the inner thoughts, feelings, fears, ambitions, ideas are being shared. Aim never to have someone closer to you than your spouse. You must learn to listen to your wife. I personally have learnt that my wife does not always say exactly what she wants so I also read her body language. That is why most women always want you to look at them when they are talking. Give her time to express her self and have your undivided attention. Do not be afraid to say your mind about issues. Don’t assume that it is better to lie to her so that she will not be hurt. She will eventually find out and she will be more hurt. Aim at being totally honest with your spouse. Communicate often – Be creative and use technology. You don’t need to spend lots of money. I find that spending too much can spoil things sometimes.
If you like it say so – 3 things a husband must do everyday. Tell her you love her, do something nice for her and pay her a compliment. Tell her how beautiful she looks. Remind her about the part of her body that you love (the fact that you are married does not mean that you are blind!). Always look for opportunities to make your wife happy.
The Power of Faith – Keep saying good things about your babe. Even when she is not yet perfect in some things, say what you believe she will be. Tell her I believe you will be the best employee at your work this month. I see that you don’t get upset as often as you used to. I see that you are looking more beautiful everyday. Isee that you are such a great wife.
How to tell her what you don’t like? – Begin by telling her what you do like. If you have mastered the habit of telling her what you like, she will expect you to be honest with her about the things you don’t like as well. I suggest however that you always think of a positive way to say what you have to say.
Winning by loosing – Sometimes you need to give in – you will get a better result later. You cannot afford to win every argument. When you learn to loose some and let your wife save face, she will accept later that you were right and she will end up asking for your opinion. If you try to prove to her that you are smarter than her, she will keep trying to out smart you and that’s not as much fun as having her support and she having yours.
Never miss an opportunity to say I love you – Make the special days special. Get an organizer and plug in all the special days. The day you proposed to her (if you remember), your wedding anniversary (check the marriage certificate), Her Birthday (check her drivers license), and any other special days, the day you bought your first home and so on.
I can hardly wait to see you – Let her know you want to have her around you. If you discover that you don’t feel like this, think more about her and the feelings will come back. Spend time talking on the bed at night, be romantic. Be creative, Have fun and let your spouse tell you what fun means to her. Enjoy.