Friday 5: Marriage and Dating

Once upon a time, I wrote a Friday 5 blog for work.

But now I’m writing one here.

This week for True Beauty we discussed reflecting God’s beauty in marriage, dating and singleness, and I want to share with you some of my favorite blogs on those topics.

FRIDAY 5 [marriage and dating]

1. When the Not-Yet Married Meet: Dating to Display Jesus by Marshall Segal

This is the best blog on “dating” I’ve ever read. Marshall Segal knocks it out of the park as he expounds on a dating that preserves marriage and promotes holiness. 

“Every person who marries is a sinner, so the search for a spouse isn’t a pursuit of perfection, but a mutually flawed pursuit of Jesus. It is a faith-filled attempt to become like Him and make Him known together. Regardless of the believer you marry, you will likely find out soon that you do not feel as “compatible” as you once did, but hopefully you will marvel more at God’s love for you in Jesus and the amazing privilege it is to live out that love together, especially in light of your differences.”

THREE QUESTIONS AND A STATEMENT:

“Do the people in each of your lives know and love Jesus more because you’re together? Do they see God’s grace and truth working in you and your relationship as you walk through life together? Are the two of you thinking proactively about how to bless your friends and family and point them to Christ? More and more, as the world is watering down dating, your relationship can be a provocative picture of your fidelity to Christ and a call to follow Him.”

2. Marriage and the Single Girl by Marci Turner

Eight lessons on how to steward singleness that Marci Turner wishes she would have known in her pre-marriage days.

“Training yourself for marriage is really just discipleship. If you believe marriage is in your future, how can you use your current singleness to bless your transition to marriage and not have it be an obstacle? For the Christian single woman, how can you best navigate singleness in preparation for marriage?”

3.1. 5 Things a Husband Might Not Know About His Wife by Kimberley Suchta

THIS: 

“We need to be told more often than you think that you love and accept us.  Confirm your acceptance and love for your wife with obnoxious frequency! We really cannot be told enough that you love us.  But within that, we need to be pointed constantly to the gospel, where our true hope is. I actually saved an email my husband sent me awhile back, to remember this for myself.

He said, “You are beautiful and I love you. But that cannot be your confidence. It must be in the truth of the Gospel which says you are clean and new. Help Kim believe this, Lord!”“

3.2 The Most Important Thing a Wife Might Not Know About Her Husband by Kimberley Suchta

In the companion blog to the previous listing, Kimberley asks her husband what a wife might not know about what her husband needs.

“I asked him again, “Seriously, what do you think a wife might not know about what her husband needs?”

And this time he said, “I have actually been thinking about that. And I think the biggest thing a wife might not realize about her husband, is how important it is for him that she encourages herself in the gospel. Because the only way she can love her husband well is if she’s believing how much Christ loves her.””

4. Single, Satisfied, and Sent: Mission for the Not-Yet Married by Marshall Segal

Marshall’s blogs on singleness (and his other blogs too) are amazingly on point (it’s like, I don’t know, the Holy Spirit helps him write or something crazy like that), so he gets two shout outs on this list. In this one he gives eight suggestions for making the most of our not-yet married life.

“With the Spirit in you and the calendar clear, God has given you the means to make a lasting difference for his kingdom. You’re all dressed up, having every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places (Ephesians 1:3), with literally everywhere to go.

“With God’s help and leading, you have the freedom to invest yourself, your time, your resources, your youth, and your flexibility in relationships, ministries, and causes that can bear unbelievable fruit.”

5. Jase + Rebekah :: A Love Story

OK, so this is one of the sweetest, most beautiful, Christ-centered love stories I’ve ever read! And I have the honor of “doing life” via social media with Rebekah, one of the most encouraging ladies with a fierce and contagious love for the Lord. She is the real deal and their story is just as great as she is.

This love story is a perfect example of how the Lord can orchestrate, arrange, and bring two people together in a completely b e a u t i f u l, God-honoring, and unexpected way. It is an example of how God can simply take your breath away and completely humble you when you finally realize that HE truly did always have something w o n d e r f u l in store for you. . .

–> This story is told by Jase + Rebekah.  <–