Proverbs 31 :12 “ She brings him good, not harm, all the days of her life.”
Note, as Leslie Ludy points out, this is not just every day after they marry or even after they meet---rather, ALL the days of her life. That starts now.
Bring good to your future spouse now by honoring him, thinking of him. In any relationship with a boy think, “How would my future spouse feel now if he were here?”
II Cor. 11: 2 “I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to Him.”
What does Webster say pure is? Pure: genuine, real; free from guilt; chaste; free from anything improper.
God wants us to be presented as a pure virgin, NOT just a virgin or a “technical” virgin, he wants us to marry as PURE virgins.
Think of this analogy: Let’s say you are throwing a party and you hear I am a good chef. You decide to visit my restaurant to ask me to cook for your party. As you walk up there are flies buzzing around the front door. O well, it is summer, that happens you reason. With each step inside the building you feel the stickiness of a dirty floor. With a glance around the room there is no missing the fact that all the table clothes are wrinkled and dotted with stains.
Still, you hold out judgment until you meet me. Out of the kitchen I come with my hair hanging dirty and stringy. As I reach to shake your hand I take a quick swipe across my drippy nose and welcome you to my restaurant.
Do you hire me? NO. Because you are not just looking for a cook you are looking for a “pure” cook. So, we are to be pure virgins for life mate.
Eph. 5: 3 “But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people.”
God doesn’t ask us to be better than our friends or to make a rule about how far is too far, rather, He calls us to live without even a hint of sexual immorality.
“In 1952, Florence Chadwick attempted to swim the chilly ocean waters between Catalina Island and the California shore. She swam through foggy weather and choppy seas fro fifteen hours. Her muscles began to cramp, and her resolve weakened. She begged to be taken out of the water, but her mother, riding in a boat alongside, urged her not to give up. She kept trying but grew exhausted and stopped swimming. Aides lifted her out of the water and into the boat. They paddled a few more minutes, the mist broke, and she discovered that the shore was less than a half mile away. “All I could see was the fog,” she explained at a news conference. “I think if I could have seen the shore, I would have made it.” Max Lucado Facing Your Giants
In prepping for courtship we need to keep our eye on the goal of being the wife our husband needs, NOT giving up in the fog of being lonely, accused of being strange or thinking God is too busy for this and needs your help.
Tomorrow I will share just a few more thoughts on prepare.