Issues of the Heart

Dear Friends,

Can I bare my soul for just a moment?  Grab a cup of coffee and sit down, it's time for a heart to heart.  I need to get these words off my chest.

I remember high school... the goal of dating was to just have fun.  Most couples were just looking for a good time and as a result, a culture was created that made a "long-term" relationship one that lasted more than a few months.  Certainly not the best of situations, but one I don't have time to address here.

Then, boom!  College!  All of the sudden, romantic relationships have an extra element, one that adds a little flavor to the mix-- the "M-word."  Marriage.  Suddenly, you're chances of finding your happily ever after increase, and it seems to make everything just a shade more interesting.  Because now, everyone is looking for that person to complete them.

And it is that final thought that makes me the most uncomfortable.  When did Christians start believing they need a romantic relationship to be completed?  When did it stop being "Christ makes you whole" and begin to be "Christ and your boyfriend" or "Christ and your wife"?  Doesn't scripture tell us, "For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and in Christ you have been brought to fullness" (Colossians 2:10).

When did marriage become an idol?

If I'm even more honest, I would go further and say that romance has become an idol.  We have all bought into the lie that we must be romantically involved to be happy or else we should be at least searching someone.

Some may wonder at this point if I'm not bitter, and no, I'm not.  At least, not at dating or romance.  I'm simply frustrated with society... for making me feel like I am incomplete, for trying to distract me from trusting in God's plan, and for telling me that my happiness depends on anything other than God.

Because if you are reading this, whether you are single or dating, married or unmarried, that is the truth I wish to convey.  Our happiness depends on one thing and one thing alone.  As the old hymn puts it: "My hope is built on nothing less / Than Jesus' blood and righteousness; / I dare not trust the sweetest frame, / But wholly lean on Jesus' name." Christ is our victory and our prize, a gift kept safely in heaven, untouched and unharmed by our circumstances... whatever they may be.

"But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" (Mark 6:20-21).