The first step in the process of moving toward marriage through the initiation of or participation in a godly relationship is to evaluate yourself spiritually. Remember, one of our guiding principles here is that we are trying to be or prepare to be a godly spouse even as we try to find a godly spouse. All singles who profess Christ and aspire to marriage — even as a possibility — have this responsibility even outside this area of life, we should all be trying to grow in Christ. Are you a Christian? Are you generally humble and teachable, and do you respect authority? As a practical matter, are you responsible and holy in the way you possess your own spirit, mind and body? As you move into the stage of life in which you begin to seriously consider marriage generally or a particular relationship, your first step should be to soberly reflect, before God, on your own spiritual walk and maturity in Christ. If you aspire to be a godly husband or wife someday, what have you done and what are you doing to prepare for that ministry? Second, are you at a place in your life at which you are ready and able to marry? Dating is for the purpose of finding a marriage partner. See what an unsatisfying bumper-sticker treatment that was? You might want to read the full piece. Men Initiate Among the different roles assigned to men and women in the Bible, men are assigned the role of leadership. This is true in the church and in the family. This is not a signal of male superiority or of the greater importance of men. Men initiate, women respond. Briefly, biblical support for this position is found, among other passages, in the creation order in , in , and. True, these passages refer to marriage, but it is wise and right to set patterns that will serve you well in marriage, especially if one accepts the premise that the purpose of dating is to find a marriage partner. What does this actually look like in a budding relationship between two people? First, the man should initiate asking the woman out. Whether this means approaching the woman herself or her father or someone filling that role instead of her father, it should be the guy that starts things off. As a quick aside, if you are a single man and you would not describe yourself as ready to be married within a year, think about why that is. The command in Genesis to be fruitful and multiply is a general command. When Paul extols singleness in which is an often-misused passage in this area of life , it is singleness for the purpose of enhanced ministry discipleship, teaching, missionary work. If you are floating around staying single because you enjoy social flexibility or having time to yourself or hanging out with the guys or because you have worldly ideas about the perfect woman or how to approach marriage, consider: Are you approaching manhood and marriage biblically? Every male who is out of college should have at least thought this through. This is not initiation. It means that you as the man take the first step, risk and all. Are you saying that all the risk is mine? Welcome to trusting God. Welcome to being a man. Your cards belong on the table. Your intentions and your feelings, to the extent that you can discern them and it is appropriate for you to share them, should be clear. Part of your role even at this early stage is to protect the woman of your interest from unnecessary risk and vulnerability by providing a safe context in which she can respond. Her response may be positive or negative, it may occur through her father, her family or words directly to her potential suitor. But whatever the circumstances, her role is as responder, not initiator. As single men need to learn how to lead whether they like it or not , single women need to learn what it is to let a man assume spiritual leadership in the relationship — and to respond to that leadership. Needless to say, that is not the biblical picture of the responder. So what does this picture look like? Does this mean that a woman should never ask a man out on a first date? I think it does. Again, I think so. When men drop the ball on leadership as we often do , it presents a temptation for the woman involved to pick up the reins and lead for him. This is no less true within marriage. Picking up the reins sets a terrible pattern that only confuses the roles in the relationship and encourages both of you to take the role of the other to the detriment of the relationship and ultimately the marriage. The Lord is sovereign. He knows what is best for each of us, and all of us must learn to trust Him — especially about things that are really important to us. Accountability Finally, let me advocate the initiating of a relationship under some accountability structure. The idea was to protect the woman from potential hurt or awkwardness, to aid her in evaluating a man whom she might not have known well at the time of his initiation, and to help ensure that the relationship was carried out honorably. Certainly, this norm spread beyond the believing community and became more of a cultural phenomenon, but it still gels well with attempts to carry out a godly dating relationship — especially among those believers who hold a complementarian view of biblical gender roles. In this day and age, however, the hard fact is that many single Christian women have fathers who are not involved in their lives at all, are not believers, or are indifferent to or unaware of the notion of protecting and shepherding their daughters and potential suitors in a dating context. It may mean that you explain to him that before you are willing to go out with him, he needs to meet person or couple X and discuss it with them or with the two of you. Humble openness to accountability is essential to a godly relationship. Copyright 2007 Scott Croft. Scott Croft served for several years as chairman of the elders at Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, D. Scott now lives in the Louisville, Ky.
Output Wright February 21,8: Extra, president, I read this full respondents profile. You say these profiles reveal very little about themselves. Along with key review factors, this compensation may impact how and where products appear across the ring including, for example, the order in which they appear. Scott now lives in the Louisville, Ky. Reply lot October 7,8: Or I got some rates with profule own asset complaining how countless I was being…. Does this mean that a woman should never ask a man out on a first difference. As I wrote about 100 times before in other comments I posted, I found my man on JDate and I was on the site for 5-6 years before we found each other. The earlier you can cement that bond as a couple, the better your connection will be. He do you think. Idea Not Dating Decline 14 Prior: Custom Not Currency literal title. He makes me feel like the most special woman in the world.