The Ills of Young Dating
(This is an essay I wrote for school awhile ago, and it's not in proper format and I lost my footnotes... but you get the idea. I've been gone all summer and that would explain why I've ignored this thing.)
Our society really seems to push young relationships. This is sadly just another area of our morals that seems to be crumbling. Entertainment pushes it. Peers push it. Something else I’ve noticed is that it’s seeping into the Christian community as well. Girls my age and younger who claim to know Christ are turning from His will to follow after their own desires, especially when it comes to "dating". Why are they in the wrong?
The Bible has never taken adultery lightly. Proverbs 7 is just one passage that speaks of an adulteress who flatters with her words and body language. (Surely and sadly, many young girls have mastered the art of this very thing.) The adulteress’ house is referred to as "the way to hell; going down to the chambers of death. " But maybe I should explain why this adulteress applies to those in relationships today: simply put, he’s not your husband!
I will expand somewhat on this idea: while it is possible for one to meet her life’s mate at the ripe old age of say, 14, is marriage truly on her mind? I can tell you from personal experience that it most certainly is not. How flighty and erratic we are in our adolescent years! It’s the experience of being in love that excites us. Even if one thinks she should be with this special someone forever (like marriage), that soon is no longer the case. She matures and/or gets to know the person better. If she ever did have the notion of marriage, it’s gone now. She changes her mind.
A lot of the problem seems to be that these young people do not quite have their priorities straight. What many people don’t seem to understand is that the love of Christ is never changing, never failing, all fulfilling. Instead, they trade in Christ’s love for the deprecated love (and lusts) of this world. If one thinks this world has anything going for it, they would do well to read Ecclesiastes. The son of David comes to the realization that the mirth and pleasure this world has to offer is all vanity.
I also think of Paul’s religious status before the Lord changed him. He writes to the Philippians about how he had it all as one of the highest qualified Jews of his time. He was famous. He had a fairly easy life. But his qualification, his social status, his Pharasitical upbringing was thrown out the window to serve Christ. It’s even believed that the position he was in before required him to be married. It’s possible that his wife rejected him when he converted. He turned away from all these things to claim Christ and his righteousness; because that’s the only way we can truly know Him.
We also all know the story of Samuel, but let’s look a little deeper into the story. Hannah would bear a son, and because the Lord had given her this son, she would "sacrifice him to the Lord all the days of his life." Samuel would be given unto the Lord. His mother surely instilled this idea in him, or he wouldn’t have become such a servant to the Lord.
Could we not purpose in our own hearts to follow the examples of Solomon, Paul, and Samuel and his mother? If we surrendered our life to the Lord, and worked on strengthening our relationship with Him, we would no longer desire a relationship with sweaty, pimply teen-aged boys, would we? Let it be noted that even if they aren’t repulsive to us, the Lord can certainly give us the strength to resist responding in a lustful approach.
In closing, I could quote to you verse after verse about God’s great love for his children, sinners, and how His love is ultimately the remedy. But instead, I’ll leave you with this passage: "What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s." Surrender to His plan for you, and He will do great and mighty things through you.
