I recently put forth the question to a group of Young Adult Professionals: “Do you have any questions about marriage?”
Today’s question for discussion is: What does Godly dating look like?
Since I used the illustration yesterday of purchasing a home, I will continue with the same illustration for today’s question.
Prior to purchasing the home where hubby and I now currently live, we were living in a small two-bedroom rental condo. It was a nice condo, and we enjoyed our time there. Here you can see our lovely little condo.
There were things we really liked about the rental condo. It was bright and airy … with plenty of sunshine. It was an upstairs condo … which meant we could leave our windows open overnight during the hot months of summer. And … it had a lovely pond view out back.
Conversely, there were things we did not like about the rental condo. It smelled strongly like curry! No amount of cleaning, deodorizing, disinfecting, or airing things out made a dent in the curry smell. Also, the small child in the neighboring condo on the other side of our bedroom wall would wake up almost every night with night terrors … and scream endlessly.
Hubby and I thought it would be nice to purchase a home. We had some ideas about what type of home we would like. It would be nice to have a home with a yard where we could spend time outdoors gardening. We had other ideas too.
Hubby and I started to keep an eye on the housing market. What houses were becoming available for sale? Were they homes we might enjoy … did they have a yard where we could do some gardening?
On weekends hubby and I would go through “Open Houses” just for fun. Anything that looked interesting, we’d stop and take a look.
We wound up following some “Open House” signs to a fantastic 4-million-dollar mansion overlooking the Snoqualmie Valley. Could we afford the 4-million-dollar mansion? Of course not. But it was a lot of fun to go through!
We followed “Open House” signs to a fantastic 2-million-dollar home with a custom Chihuly chandelier hanging in the entryway. Could we afford the 2-million-dollar home? Of course not. But it was fun to go through.
The many different “Open Houses” gave us a lot of knowledge and information about what we liked and what we didn’t like. And when our current home came on the market, and we saw it for the first time, we knew right away that this was the one!
This is exactly what Godly dating looks like!
Young adult singles are in the same place hubby and I were when we were living in the rental condo. The rental condo was nice, and we enjoyed living there. Similarly, single life is nice. There are things about single life which are really enjoyable. Ultimate freedom, for example. Conversely, there are also things about single life which are not to like. Loneliness, for example.
Most young adult singles think it would be nice to be married. They have some ideas about what type of person they would be interested in marrying. And they are keeping an eye on the “availability market.”
Godly dating is a lot like the process of going through “Open Houses.” This is very important.
It took going through different “Open Houses” for hubby and me to gain the knowledge we needed for our home purchase. So also, it takes “going out on dates” to gain the knowledge and information needed to make a wise decision regarding marriage.
Godly dating is all about “going out on dates” to get to know people. That way when God, in His providential timing, brings the right person … you will know this is the right person.
