Blog

The Christian and Money

Do not lay up for yourselves treasure on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is there your heart will be also.  (Matthew 6:19-21) Everyone uses money, and we use it for just about everything – food, clothing, a place to live, transportation, entertainment, communication, energy, you name it.  Therefore, if the kingdom of God affects how you live, it should affect how you view and handle…

Warning Signs When Dating

If you are in a dating relationship, you want to know if it is healthy.  I’ve already given some positive principles to follow, and if you follow them, you will greatly increase your chances of having a healthy relationship.  I now want to give some warning signs.  Think of these as you might think of a warning light on your car dash.  If you see these, you need to either make some changes or end the relationship.  Warning Signs: You make time for each other, but you don’t make time for God.  How you spend your time reveals your priorities. …

Unequally Yoked

Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers (II Cor 6:14). If we are going to talk about dating, then at some point, we have to talk about the concept of being unequally yoked.  This is the idea that a Christian should marry a Christian. But before we talk about that, let’s talk more broadly about saying “no” to a potential date.  Perhaps you have had to do this and know what it is like.  The reality is that I have never met a person who would date anybody.  If you are single, you can think of people whom you would…

Dating and Sexual Boundaries

There once was a woman who landed at an airport in Columbia.  She needed to take a cab up into the mountains where the roads were windy, narrow, and had steep drop offs with no guard rails.  She approached the line of cabs at the airport, told the first driver where she needed to go and asked him how good a driver he was and how close he could drive to the edge of the road without going over the side. The man said, “Ma’am, I am a very good driver.  I can drive within half a meter of the…

Dating and Romance: Practical Principles

In the previous blog I laid some foundation for how to think about dating and romance. I now want to build on that foundation and discuss practice. Which practices help produce a healthy dating relationship? So here we go. Keep Christ first Marriage is merely a picture.  Your relationship with Jesus is the reality that marriage portrays.  Dating is just a preliminary to the picture of the reality.  Why would you sacrifice the reality in order to gain a preliminary step to a picture of that reality?  Maintain your relationship with Christ throughout the romance.  If the romance causes you…