Matthew 6:26(NLT)
“Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are?”
A friend of mine say to me that often she doesn’t feel good enough to be loved by a man. I asked her why she feels this way, and her response was, “Because all the men that said they loved me never stayed.”
The one truth that every woman should know before she goes into a relationship is that only God can dictate a person’s worth. Human beings were not given this authority, and we should never allow an individual to do this. Romans 5:8(ESV) states, “But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” When we were at our worst, God sent His Son to the earth to give his life as a sacrifice for our sins. Jesus Christ is God’s only begotten Son. He is God’s greatest treasure, yet God gave His Son’s life for us. This tells us our worth in the eyes of God.
In Proverbs 4:23(NLT), God tells us, “Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.” Our hearts should belong totally and completely to God, but some of us desire marriage so much, that a relationship with the man consumes us. It takes over our hearts, and this places us in idolatry, because we’re not putting God in His rightful place of honor and reverence. We’re making God number two and our desire for a relationship number one. God commands us to guard against this kind of thing. If we don’t guard against it, we’re setting ourselves back and not forward. We’re opening up an opportunity for satan to ruin things for us. We can avoid this, and we should.
When we don’t guard our hearts, we can very easily make ourselves slaves to the affections of the man. Galatians 5:1(ESV) warns, “For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.” We become slaves because of our fear of what the person we’ve given our power to can do to us. We yield to those base-level emotions and allow them to steer our choices and decisions. We fear the continuance of loneliness. We fear the man will leave us, and we fear that we’re not enough for him to stay. When we begin relationships this way, the end can only be equal to our fears.
Matthew 6:26 reassures us that our God provides. How does this translate to a relationship? First, we should only want to partner with the man that God sends. This positions us in our rightful place of authority as God’s daughters. Wanting only what God wants for us is a demonstration of our faith in God’s provision and blessings. Secondly, we must understand that patience is the preeminent virtue in waiting on the Lord’s presentation and permission to marry. Thirdly, we must kick anxiety about the man’s commitment and loyalty to the curb. God’s presentations have stickability. The Father takes care of this.
None of us should want the kind of man who responds to our fears and anxieties. We should want a man that responds to the strength of our conviction to please God. Romans 8:28(NLT) affirms, “And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.” It’s God who causes everything to work together for our good. No one else can do this. The right man that God sends will stick to us because of the Christ in us and our allegiance to put God first. This is the glue. Our faith solidifies the blessings God has for us. Our faith in God holds everything together, but fear will surely tear it apart.
God tells us that His people are destroyed because they lack knowledge about Him. We can’t rise above something we don’t know, and we can’t walk in something we haven’t learned. Faith in God is the key. He tells us in Philippians 4:6(NLT), “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.” If we truly trust God and His Word, we won’t worry if we’re going to be single for the rest of our lives. We’ll believe that God’s way always works out for us.
The bottom line is that we can’t expect God to come down to the level of our unbelief and worry. He summons us to come up to the level of His majesty and power. He expects us to believe in the vision He holds for our happiness, and to have faith no matter how things appear. When we learn to do this, we will begin a relationship with the right person from a place of confidence and spiritual strength, and we’ll give this right relationship the solid foundation in Christ that it deserves.■
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
English Standard Version (ESV)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
“God Says Not to Worry”, written by Kim Times, edited by Fran Mack for Sundie Morning Sistas ©2022. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord!