Yet another segment in the courtship chronicles! I had not gotten this posted so the date is a day old. I'm posting this on Saturday in caes you were wondering!
Two days ago I had a really nice article all written with my thoughts in order on the subject when somehow the computer kicked me off and I was not able to recover the same thoughts--will trust the Lord to bring them to mind again if they were worth writing!
I had made some comments on how I think we can sometimes get a little bogged down with rules for courtship. I would love to see all of western Christianity embrace something like courtship wholeheartedly when it comes to finding a mate. But we are certainly far from that. I also hope that as the idea and concept of courtship "catches on" in the broader church, that we can raise the standards a notch even from what we currently see.
Let me refer further to what I said yesterday. I think instead of trying to stick to lists of rules about how a courtship goes, we would be further ahead to emphasize the working of the Holy Spirit in the life of all believers. For instance, if a young man and a young woman are living very close to the Lord, the Holy Spirit will guide them, teaching them the Word and bringing it to memory. This kind of close relationship will result in people who do the right thing because of a relationship to God, not a set of rules. It would be a committment to purity and Spirit-led living borne out of the heart and the rules would be secondary. I've known of courtships where the parents and young people did everything "right" to the best of their understanding and still the courtship didn't last or result in marriage. We are humans and subject to making errors.
I think we really need to catch this kind of vision for Holy Spirit-led living in realtion to courtship since more than just the very young are looking for mates. For instance, many people are waiting to marry later in life than they did a few decades ago. At least it seems that way to me. It is totally thinkable that people just out of their teens would be guided more closely by the input of their parents in a courtship situation, but what about those who have been out of the home and in careers for some time? What about widows and widowers? This is one reason why I believe the Holy Spirit filled life is the key here and not the parent-led, it-has-to-be-done-this-way method. I am not knocking parent-led courtships--they have their place, but we need to develop a mindset of purity that accommodates many different age levels and family situations. Remember, the standards of purity don't change with a person's age, but maybe how a courtship is conducted would change.
I know a very Godly family that actually were the ones who first introduced me to the whole concept of courtship many years ago. Even they admitted that when one of their daughters married, the courtship was conducted a bit differently than the traditional definition that they had first embraced. The groom was a pastor, obviously older and more mature than some other young men might be. Still it was all done in a pure, God-honoring way, but maybe with a bit less chaperoning than a younger couple might desire. Their experience describes my point exactly. It seems to me that the courtship can be led by the Holy Spirit according to the particular couple involved. After all, the actual definition of courtship is not spelled out in the New Testament. Standards of purity are given. Some Old Testament examples exist to give us clues of what marriage and betrothal practices were like in ancient days. However, we must remember that examples that we cite from the Old Testament to support courtship, were occurring at a time when people had not yet received a full revelation of the scripture or complete understandings of the nature of God, because Jesus had not come to earth yet.
Now, don't run out on me here--what I am saying is that for the Christian, we now have the full revelation of God through Jesus Christ as taught to us in the New Testament, coupled with the Old Testament. The patriarchs were coming into the knowledge of God's character and so were not always operating the same as a Christian nowadays would or should, though we learn from their lives and give them due respect. Plus, as a New Testament church, we have the Holy Spirit given to every believer since Pentecost. So let's be wise and careful when we cite only Old Testament practices to support our thinking. We may partially be seeing various cultural practices in the Old Testament. However, I can think of one very important betrothal in the New Testament that gives us a little glimpse into the practices of Israel? Can you? Clue: This particular betrothal occurred before the giving of the Holy Spirit to the church. I'll mention the answer to that one tomorrow.
I hope this stimulates your thinking on the subject and of course, I realize that I may have missed something in my explanations, but I am doing my best to encourage thinking on a subject that is dear to my heart!
Yesterday I had another busy day. I got a chance to crochet on another project that has been under construction for too long. It's my "tv-watching" project. Remember that I spoke of consistency the other day? Well, I'm trying to practice this and it's paying off! This particular project actually looks do-able after only a few days of consistent 1/2 hours spent on it. The same is true of the gardens. I weeded some more yesterday after the sun dipped behind the woods and the temperatures lowered. I am making progress. Canned 7 more quarts of peaches yesterday and 14 more quarts tonight to finish off the batch. We found a great deal on blueberries and bought a case. Clint helped me wash and freeze all of them and finish canning the peaches since we were out grocery shopping with friends most of the afternoon. The cooker is just now coming to a boil with the last batch of peaches. I'm tired! Blessings, LORI
No comments:
Post a Comment