The Dating World

In our journey through life it is a great blessing to find someone that will become our companion for life. Not all may have this chance or may choose to do so but this option does exist. It is much easier to do anything as a pair; whenever one falls, the other is there to help them up. However I see a lot of misuse of other people when it comes to dating: people get stood up, cheated on, lied to and the list goes on. Why then are you in a relationship if you are going to do these things? You enter a relationship under one purpose only: the hope that there's a chance that this person is your match, and that one day - you'll be united forever. That is what dating is. Getting to know someone to see if they suit you and you to them, to test your responsibility, selflessness and loyalty, and most of all, nurture good characteristics out of love.

In the Bible there's the famous verse: "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails."

See it is not the people that possess these things, but once you have love for another, these things come out from within you. You sacrifice yourself for the ones you love, you care for them, and you do your very best to benefit their life and to support them. Even those who are deemed evil have the capacity of love, and they treat their spouses no different than those who are good. Why? Love. It brings the best out of everyone and amplifies the good that one already has. This is what you enter a relationship for. A relationship is not just because you are lonely, nor is it because you like the idea of the relationship. It should be that you possess an attraction to someone's character and they like yours. There's no use having a one-sided relationship, one person will neglect the other sooner or later.

Then you proceed onward to what happens when you are in the relationship. Firstly, you don't cheat. You have made a bonding relationship with someone and you have a duty to be honest. If you don't want to be with them, tell them so. Don't just cheat on them because if you're still in a relationship, your duty is to your partner and not to yourself. You break up with them because you are not for them and they for you and it is the best if you are not together. Secondly, you must develop trust. You know the relationship has two parties and it is not all about you (you'll be surprised how many think it is all for their benefit only). Therefore you go and you commit yourself to taking care of your partner, treating them with respect, communicating in a matter of fact style because you don't try to deceive each other, you don't try to lie but just to bless each other with truth. You can do nice things for each other; you can do things together, not being needy or co-dependent but each side of the couple providing a stronger leg to stand on. Isn't that what we all want? A reasonable, loving and understanding partner that is there for us and a partner that we too, would want to care for? 

"Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken." - Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 

"Let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband." - Ephesians 5:33

 

Lastly and the most important. A relationship must be one that will grow one another in their journey with God. If someone is pulling you away from Him in your relationship it is time to let go. There are many couples that have brought their partner to Christ or closer to Him, which is the right way, not the other way around. The presence of God is the key to a healthy and a lasting relationship. Often people find themselves in the situation of divorce because they have no direction in the relationship and the don't share a common goal. They get bored, restless. They cheat, they go find some life-changing thing whether it be adrenaline raising sports, or drinking, or even gambling. 

"Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.”- 1 Corinthians 15:33

With a partner that helps develop your relationship with them and with God, you each share the same goal. Like in the Bible the purpose of the relationship is to make each other 'holy and blameless' before the Lord through 'righteousness and discernment.' You help each other with their iniquities, and by using your God given talent to fulfill where the other lacks. You have a life long purpose together and that is vital for a couple to survive. You have the God-given characteristics of patience through the fruits of the spirit and you can take time to help each other, work out and issues. Thereby creating an unbroken bond, a happy relationship and soon a happy marriage and truly - til death will do you part. Nothing else.