The Dating Manifestoنموونە

Christ and the Church

Are you marriageable? Are you growing in maturity… growing in the qualities that matter regardless of your relationship status? Here are two big ones (we’ll do two more tomorrow):

Get tight with Jesus:
If you’re a Christian, this should be obvious. But so many Christian young adults today have absorbed a shallow, nominal and passionless faith that this deserves special emphasis.

So what needs to happen? Well, you need to get serious about your faith. It needs to infect your life, transform your heart and be the catalyst for every single decision. Your relationship with Christ is bigger and better than any of your other relationships. He’s number one.

Here’s what it’s not. It’s not knowing a bunch about the Bible. It’s not having grown up in church or youth group or gone to a Christian school. It’s not having Christian parents. It’s not being American, retweeting John Piper or Francis Chan every few days, or going to the Passion or Catalyst conferences every year.

Living reconciled to God is your Relationship 101, and it matters. Besides, knowing who you are in Christ will help you make big decisions down the road. Like marriage. Because you need to find someone to marry who’s also tight with Jesus. Why? Because living together in marriage in light of an eternity with God while living out grace now is the only way to live. And it doesn’t matter how great your marriage is if you’re going to hell, right?

So put Jesus first, and keep him there. Put your future spouse firmly in second place. You’ll be glad you did. And you’ll have the best foundation for maturity there is.

Commit to a local church:
The Bible calls us to be part of a local church. A physical church with real people. The New Testament church kept lists of its people. It cared for its people, including widows (one subset of single women; I think today’s church should include any single ladies). It broke bread together, shared things in common, and provided encouragement and correction. It also provided a space for the mandates of corporate worship and observance of the sacraments.

We need the same.

So listen to the Word preached. Join a Sunday school class or small group. Begin tithing. Start serving. Become a contributor, not a consumer. You’ll strengthen a muscle of selflessness that you never knew you had.