I ask myself:
“Does God approve us, Christian teenagers, to have romantic “boy-friends” or “girl-friends” relationships, just as everyone else does?”
Like all 16 years old teenagers I start having a growing desire to love (in a romantic sense) someone, and I find no clear advice in God’s Instruction Book, (the Bible), as to whether I should follow today’s trend of “innocently” having a boyfriend like everyone else does.
So, I asked my father, who has been a follower of Jesus from the age of 23.
He had girl friends and lovers before he believed, and after his conversion he struggled and suffered much because of the bad habits he then had.
His answer was a definite NO! And he explained:
We, God’s dedicated children, must keep ourselves well away from temptations, as Jesus implied in the Lord’s Prayer: “Do not allow us to be tempted…” (Matthew 6: 13)
Having a romantic relationship equals to diving into dangerous waters of temptation and sin!
We are all much weaker than think we are, and if we allow ourselves to approach the fire of temptation, we will surely fall into sin, sooner or later…
It is inevitable!
Sexual sins do a great damage to our soul, much more than we first realize.
We loose, our until then…“innocence” and our self worth, (all in one blow, and forever more), and we will always be plagued and tormented, from then on, with such kinds of temptation!
It is definitely not what God wants for us…
Also, if we allow ourselves to get prematurely romantically involved, and the relationship does not lead to marriage, we will most probably end up hurting deeply ourselves or the other person!
And God does not condone hurting other people in any way.
A failed love affair is very very hurtful, and should be avoided at all cost. We must not start something that we know will probably end up in tragedy!
Once we mature, when comes the time that we want to find our lifelong companion, (husband or wife), we, born-again believers must only consider to start such a relationship with a mature, born-again believer, who is also praying and trying to find his or her future partner in life.
The Bible says:
“Do not yoke yourselves with un-believers! For how well do you think light will be able to co-exist with darkness, or a holy person with a lawless one?” (2 Corinthians 6: 14 )
My father’s explanations made sense to me, and I intend to keep his advice.
What matters most to me is that I remain holy and pleasing to my Lord and God, in all circumstances, and pure… for my future husband.