consistency

now and again i observe people commenting on how relationships are not like they used to be, in the old fashioned days, people actually thought of marriage when it comes to dating, more thought and care used to be put into considering who might be the right person to date and people used to involve others in helping them make a good choice as opposed to a singular, personal (who cares who else likes her, but me!) suka suka i la kinda choice. no particular people, just a whole lot of comments i've been hearing ever since i got engaged.

Hahaha.

It's very funny.

I totally agree with all these comments. God has made marriage as such that when you wish to be married, it should be for God's purposes, not your own. When you choose a right person, it should be in line with God's purposes (is she a Christian? Does he serve his church? Will this person support n help me in ministry?). And when you choose a right person then, it becomes the church's decision, because all these things are for the church Christ died for. Whether you marry a great person who supports you in ministry or make a choice to marry one who doesn't even believe in Jesus, it affects the church, your ministry to Christ's church. It's not about you.

The issue i have is with consistency. When your best friend decides to date someone outside the faith, will you still stand up to it? Or will you decide to say then... oh but he's such a nice guy, he can't be going to hell. God loves him. When one of your church friends gets involved in a relationship with someone whom nobody knows... what will you say?

It's not about you, like i said. It's about the CHURCH of CHRIST. In John ch13-17, Jesus makes sure his disciples know what to do when he's gone back to the Father. A new commandment he gave to the disciples, that they love one another, to be ONE, to be the ONE FLOCK, under ONE SHEPHERD. By this all people will know that they are HIS disciples. What this means for us today, is not some namby pamby "i love you, brother" "i love you, sister" nonsense. It's remaining in each other, by remaining in Christ. It means the church needs to be united around Christ, til he returns. That's why church is so important. This is Jesus's command to HIS CHURCH, whom he is now going to his death for.

This is not some silly sidetrack i've done in my flow of thought. It all counts. Disciples need to make sure they stick to the church. Cos your most important relationship is with Christ and his church. That's what tells all people that you are Jesus's disciple. If you start sticking with someone who's not part of the church, whom the church knows nothing about, whom the church should not approve of, then you're no disciple of Christ. Do you love the church or not? Be consistent with your identity as a Christian. Please... do not shame the name of Christ, by calling yourselves Christian and doing the exact opposite things. We all have our share in repenting from these things. There's never a better time than now.