Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in one spirit, contending as one man for the faith of the gospel (Philippians 1:27)
The things that people do just to be seen are absolutely amazing. I have never seen so much desperate and unguarded behavior by women in all of my days. The age and time that we live in is certainly different than 20 years ago or even 10 years ago. I'm sure 50 years ago, women would never do some of the things I have seen on the net. You can't help but wonder what has lead them to this behavior and why they let their standard down. At some point, I would imagine that they held a higher standard but something or someone filled their heads with things that made them believe less about themselves and so their attitudes and self esteem began to lower. Certainly, a woman who feels compelled to expose all of her assets to gain the attention of someone has a low opinon of herself. She believes this to be the only way to bring attention to herself. She fails to realize the attention she draws only demeans her and destroys her credibility.
As single women of God, we too can find ourselves in this same mode of thinking. Feeling as if we have to shift who we are to accomodate the mainstream. I certainly believe that it is important to step up your game so to speak. That means that you need to take care of yourself. You do need to be clean, well groomed, eat well, and exercise for the sake of general health as well as to look and feel your best. After all, if you do not feel and look your best, this will reflect in your outward presentation. Women who are not confident in who they are tend to lean toward the mentality of the world and play to their physical attributes to gain attention. Dress to look your best but not bring the wrong kind of attention to your self as a Godly woman. When you try to bring attention to yourself you are encouraging people to take their eyes off of God. There is fine line between putting yourself in line for Boaz to see you and wearing see through clothes so he can SEE you. You get my meaning? You don't have to change who you are, just enhance who you are to look and feel your best.
You do not have to lower your standard to attain the promise. I want to be very clear in that. The scripture in Phil 1:27 says whatever happens conduct yourself in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. It doesn't matter what other people are doing or how they are behaving, you ensure that you are living and doing what the Lord has instructed. You let your life reflect the gospel. You let your ways reflect the image of Christ. You let your name be well spoken of. You don't have to look like the world and you certainly do not have to act like the world. The world's interpretation of dating is having sexual relations, but we know as saints of God, this is not scriptural. You do not need to lower your standards and test the water to get a man to commit to you. Eph 5:3-4 says "But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints; Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks".
I had someone once tell me, a preacher of the gospel who I was dating at the time, "well it's really whatever we agree to (concerning premarital sex)". Really?? Is that what the word says? It did not set well with me that this is mentality of people even in the church. You cannot agree to disobey God's word and rationale that it's right. It doesn't matter if you are engaged, it doesn't matter if you've set a wedding date, it doesn't matter if you are in love. Anyone who encourages you to sin against God's word, you need to run very far away until you can't see their image in your rear view mirror any longer. Needless to say, to my good fortune, I got dumped because of my views.
You are on the wall and do not come down off of the wall. There is a remnant and you are part of it. Everybody cannot go where God is taking you and will not understand that about you. You cannot allow that to deter you, frustrate you, or discourage you. When someone will not allow you to be a Godly woman in a relationship, then it is to your benefit not to be involved with that person. You do not have to feel bad about that. God would not send someone into your life that will pull you out of his will. I want you to write that down and put it on your frig for future reference. Encouragement to stray from the things of God should be a red flag. Someone who wants the benefit of marriage without the certificate should be a red flag. If you are dating right now and doing what married people do (I'm being nice) you are out of the will of God. It's that simple. There are no ifs ands or buts about that. I'm not going to run around what I just said, pat you up, or spoon feed you. The word says it, I didn't make it up. It says fornication shouldn't be named among us once. Being engaged to be married doesn't release you from living God's word. You are not married YET.
I want those who have been strong and may have been struggling with what to do to stay on the wall today and not come down. Stand firm in God's word and know that he will bless you for your faithfulness to him. While you are God's handmaiden only and single, don't let the influences of the world dictate your behavior and mentality of conduct. You are beautiful women of God and deserve someone in your life that realizes that without you having to come down off your post, lower your standard, and sin against God just to have them in your life. You remember as teenagers how young boys say, "if you love me you'll do it?" Really, a man who pressures you by continuing to put you a position that makes it difficult for you to say no, is saying that very thing. He's saying it without saying it. Some of them will just come right out and say it's okay, God will forgive us. Girl, run far away! Get back on post so you can spot the real Boaz coming up the street.
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