Some Things Singles Should Know

Last week the Gospel Coalition published Jared C. Wilson’s “10 Things Young Singles in Romantic Relationships Ought to Know.” Check out these excerpts:

3. Persons in a dating or courting relationship are on their best behavior. So however they are now, you can expect, over time, for them to get “worse.” As familiarity grows, people let their guards down. Marriage does not fix bad behavior; it often gives it freer reign. Ladies, this means if your boyfriend is controlling, suspicious, verbally condescending or manipulative, he will get worse, not better the longer your relationship goes on. Whatever you are making excuses for or overlooking now, will get harder to ignore and more prominent the longer your relationship goes on. You can’t fix him, and marriage won’t straighten him out. (…)

5. Assuming you’re special and you’re different and their experiences won’t reflect yours is shortsighted, unwise, and arrogant. The people who love you and are warning/advising you against your relationship might be ignorant fools. Those sorts of people do exist. But odds are better that your parents, your pastor, your older married friends are wiser than you think. (…)

9. All of your relationships, including your romantic relationship, is meant to make Jesus look big more than it is meant to provide you personal fulfillment. When we make personal fulfillment our ultimate priority in our relationships, ironically enough, we find ourselves frustratingly unfulfilled.

10. You are loved by God with abundant grace in Christ’s atoning work, and an embrace of this love by faith in Jesus provides Holy Spiritual power and satisfaction to pursue relationships that honor God and thereby maximize your joy.

It’s worth your time to visit the Gospel Coalition and read all of Wilson’s points.

1. USALady63 said the following on June 22, 2012 at 11:23 am

   

   I do not see all ten listings here. Only 3,5,9, and 10…what happen to the others???
2. USALady63 said the following on June 22, 2012 at 7:40 pm

   

   question 1 and 2 Do Not DO until married!
3. Sykes66 said the following on June 23, 2012 at 8:44 pm

   

   Dr. Kathy Koch (pronounced “cook” strangely enough) once said:

   “God did not create you to be happy”

   That thought seems so simple, and so profound all at once. Don’t be looking for someone to make you happy, look for someone with compatible goals with whom you can glorify God. If the focus is on God and his glorification through our lives and thoughts, we’ll never go far wrong.

   I guess that’s all under point 9 already.