God was speaking to me about love today.
Back where I'm from in the Raleigh area, there's a heavy religious spirit. Many churches are ok with that, unfortunately. I believe this prevents the love of God to really be shown through people.
I've been here in Redding, CA for a while now. I've made some really amazing friends. God wants to love you in your own alone time with him, of course. But he also loves you through other people, and gives those other people love for you when you allow him to.
I've met some awesome brothers in Christ who I really consider closer than even my biological brother (but Marc is really cool though, and loves Jesus, and I'm close to him too, though I don't get to talk to him often). I've also met some really awesome sisters in Christ. And here's the part that seems dangerous. Time and time again, I feel like they're interested in dating/courting/marrying me because of the love they show. Many of them are probably only interested in me as a friend and brother, nothing more, though I do believe that eventually I will marry one of them. I don't know who, yet, and I'll just wait for the Holy Spirit to show me who. I don't want to be in a relationship of that kind with someone I'm not supposed to. I don't have a biological sister, so I really didn't have a clue what having a sister was like until I came here, except for my friend Christy back at home, who I consider a sister.
When we truly show the love of God, there are going to be some members of the opposite sex that think you're in love with them, in a dating/courting/marrying way. Some of you are probably going to be offended by that statement I just made. But I really believe that to be true. Some members of the opposite sex are going to think you're interested in them, and they're going to be attracted to you.
It is very important that we keep ourselves pure. Don't get into that kind of relationship with someone you're not supposed to. However, at the same time, if we don't have this "problem" where others think we're attracted to them, at least momentarily, I wonder if we're really showing the love of God. The love of God attracts people.
I see another big reason why signing that agreement to courtship was so important for me. I have a lot of wonderful sisters, and many of them, in my mind, appear to be attracted to me. Maybe they aren't interested in me in that way, though. I definitely need to hear from the Holy Spirit which one is right for me here. It was easy for me to hear from the Holy Spirit back at home. I asked the Holy Spirit who was right for me there, and he said "not anyone here". And he sent me off to Redding, CA (not necessarily to find her, I'm here to be trained and equipped for ministry, but the Holy Spirit did say I would meet her out here). If I go around asking every woman out that I think is attracted to me, and I continuously get "no" as the answer, people are going to get the idea that I just want a girlfriend, and I'm not here for that. And if one said yes, but she's not the right one for me, my heart just gets broken again, and so does hers, and that's another soul tie that doesn't need to be created.
OK. So the opposite sex is going to be attracted to you when you show the love of God. Why? We are the bride of Christ. We are madly in love with God. God is in love with us. It shows. And if the opposite sex that is attracted to us isn't saved, I believe they will be. They're just "pre-Christian" and they should be part of the bride already.
Now I do want to be careful with what I'm saying here. That doesn't mean you're supposed to get into a dating relationship with that person of the opposite sex if they're not saved. I believe being equally yoked with another believer is very important. I would say, with the exception of very rare cases, definitely don't get into that kind of relationship with an unbeliever. I say this differently from most in the church because a friend of mine, who even prophesied about the girl he was going to marry and listened to the Holy Spirit, married someone who was unsaved and eventually she got saved and now she's very on fire for God. They have a great marriage. I have trouble saying that my friend didn't listen to the Holy Spirit. Also, Hosea was told by God to marry a whore. That doesn't sound very "Christian", now does it? So I do believe there are very rare cases where that's ok (and I know I'm going to get a lot of mess from people about that). But we need to be really careful about that. Making sure you don't be unequally yoked with a non-believer is a very good biblical principal that we should all have.
Anyway, I'm digressing from what I'm talking about there. I'll speak about principals in another post. Do other people around you see and feel the love of God? The Bible tells us that they will know that we're Christians by our love. In your friendships, do you just talk about news, sports, and weather? Or do you go deeper, share things you wouldn't share with others, and listen when they talk to you about what's going on in their life? Do you truly get to know other people? Do you even want to? Back at home, I had dysfunctional spiritual support. I had a great church, don't get me wrong. But I didn't really have the brothers and sisters, especially ones my age, who were in a good relationship with God and at the same time show me that love in the way I have gotten it out here.
There are people in this world who are depressed and on the brink of suicide, some of whom are probably people you consider your friend, because you haven't taken the time to get to know them and listen to them. Now be careful not to let them bring you down, of course, but they need you to love them. They need you to truly care. They need a brother or sister that really cares for them. Take the time. Show the love.
Saturday, September 20, 2008
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