Altared Perception

Sometimes relationships don't work out. Sometimes we're ok with that. And sometimes those breakups are hard to deal with. Sometimes we feel devastated, or humiliated, or frustrated, or bitter, or depressed. I wonder if these feelings would be easier to deal with if we took a moment to step back and ask this question: What is the goal of dating? It's a reasonable question right? But I don't think many people--even Christians--have given enough thought to it. I would guess most Christians would say the goal of dating is marriage. If dating leads to marriage, success. If dating ends in breakup, then the relationship failed. We just have to remind ourselves that sometimes it doesn't work out, it wasn't God's will, and we'll meet the right person in his perfect timing.  Maybe another person will come along who will blow us away. Or there's always eHarmony... Soon enough we'll start another relationship. And hopefully that one will e...

I am a Christian. I have worshiped with other Christians my whole life. You'd think we'd all have it down. But God help us, sometimes we don't. Sometimes we know what the gospel is. Sometimes we live and bask in it. Sometimes we let it set us free. And sometimes we don't. One area many Christians struggle to surrender to the Gospel is sexuality. Let me give you an example. Growing up, I always heard that sex was dirty. We don't joke about it. We don't think about it. And by golly, we don't do it--at least before marriage. It was simple, really. The goal was purity . I was told to remain a virgin until my wedding night. And there were two underlying assumptions behind this: 1) If you save yourself for marriage, sex will be awesome. 2) If you defile your purity before marriage, you are dirty and worthless. Regarding the first assumption, let's just be honest. Any married person will tell you sex is not easy. It's compli...