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Day Three

What’s the Bible Got to Do with It?

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 10:23; 2 Timothy 3:16–17

The world has a lot of spoken and unspoken rules about dating. But the Bible, which many people (wrongly) think of as a big book full of rules, actually has very few dating rules. 

Partly, that’s because dating as we know it didn’t exist in Bible times. In fact, dating hasn’t existed throughout most of history; the concept was only invented a little over a century ago. Most people throughout most of history managed to live, love, and marry successfully without ever “dating” anyone. 

But just because modern dating wasn’t around when the Bible was written doesn’t mean the Bible doesn’t have anything relevant to say about the subject. It may not have many rules about dating, but the few it does have are clearly applicable to our lives today.

Plus, it is worth noting that those few rules highlight the most glaring ways in which modern dating tends to get things wrong and that ignoring those rules causes the biggest problems and the most pain in dating. That’s because any commands God gives us are for our benefit. They are not at all meant to stifle our fun. Instead, they exist to point us toward life and help us avoid doing things that cause us emotional, physical, or relational harm. 

Besides listing those relatively few clear sins to avoid, the Bible is full of wisdom principles we can use to find incredible life in dating. They are not so much rules to be followed as they are really good ideas that will never steer us wrong. 

Essentially, we are given a lot of freedom in how we pursue relationships, but things go better for us when we follow God’s advice. As 1 Corinthians 10:23 says: 

“I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but not everything is constructive. 

You can ignore or try to rationalize away what the Bible says and do things your way instead. But has that ever gone very well for you?

Do you think God cares about your dating life? Why or why not?