Think of your favorite classic love story.
Beauty & the Beast? Where love changes the beast into a handsome prince and him & belle live happily ever after in a redecorated castle?
Pride & Prejudice? Where pride blinds Elizabeth bennett from mr. Darcy's love, but in time he sweeps her off her feet.
Cinderella? Where Cinderella is tormented by her ugly step sisters, but with the help of her fairy godmother and a few nice mice she catches the eye and heart of Prince Charming.
Princess Bride? Where Westley devotes his life to Buttercup and sacrifices everything to find her and be with her.
How many of you dreamed of a romance like one of those?
I still am. Who wouldn't want their true love to do anything (even crazy things) to show their love and protect them? But you know what I find even more beautiful than that? All these stories have two other things in common. They are each others first love. They never mention either person having past relationships. And the other thing is that neither person was looking for love when they found each other. Isn't that the most romantic thing about the stories? The princess and the prince were fully pure in their relationships. They had never loved another, let alone dated or kissed another. Isn't it interesting that neither person was looking for a relationship? They were living their own lives and trusted that the right person would come into their lives when it was the right time.
Purity has ground rules, but besides those rules, there is a lot for the individual to decide. This is my opinion on purity and these are the standards at which I hold my purity. I see purity and love as an apple. Have you ever been apple picking and you find a rich red apple without a single bruise, scratch, or marking? You protect that apple like it is a jewel. You can almost taste the over flowing flavors of the apple. As much as you want to take a big bite out of it right away, you wait til you get home. Once you get home, you wash the apple and at the right time you take a big juicy bite. It is the most delicious apple you have ever tasted, it is filled with flavor. That is just how your love and purity should be. You have the most beautiful apple, not a single bruise, scar, or plemish marking it. The apple is pure. You need to protect love because it is a jewel. Song of Songs 3:5 says, "Do not awake love until it so desires" Its not just talking about not kissing or having sex. It is talking about not falling in love until God shows you the one he has for you. When you awaken love before its time or you start to move into a relationship with someone that God does not have for you, you are not trusting God with your life and your relationships. You are taking it into your own hands. In this day and age love is taken very lightly, people fall in and out of love every other week. And they sacrifice a lot for it. They give their hearts to people, expecting them to magically heal it. And once they realize that that person can't heal their heart, they walk away and find someone knew. They always end up emotionally broken and exhausted. When you start to like a person, you are awakening love, you are no longer seeing them as a brother or sister. Timothy 5:1-2 " Treat younger men as brothers". You would never flirt with your brother! Guard your heart from falling into cheap love that you will regret. At the right time, God will show you the person he has hand picked for you. Would you rather have a 1 year warranty used car after 1 year warranty used car or wait for God to give you a custom built, one of a kind, lamborghini with a lifetime warranty? Live your life and accomplish some of the amazing things God has for you to do while you are single. Focus on him.
Read the story of Ruth, she looses her husband and is in a foreign land with her sister in law, Orpah & mother in law, Naomi. Ruth and Orpah have two choices, they could go back home and find themselves new husbands or they can stay and take care of their elderly mother in law who is also a widow. Orpah chooses to leave, but Ruth demands to stay with Naomi. Ruth learns to provide for Naomi, by going to a wealthy man's field and collecting the left over grains the harvesters leave behind. Ruth was focused and determined. The owner of the field was named Boaz. He took notice of her, he made sure that none of his servants touched her or rebuked her. He was protecting Ruth. In time, they fell in love with each other and he did everything he could to get her hand in marriage. Whats interesting is that Ruth nor Boaz were desperately looking for a relationship to jump into. They both were doing their own work and once God led them into each other's lives then they began to persue one another in God's timing. Let Love Sleep.
Beauty & the Beast? Where love changes the beast into a handsome prince and him & belle live happily ever after in a redecorated castle?
Pride & Prejudice? Where pride blinds Elizabeth bennett from mr. Darcy's love, but in time he sweeps her off her feet.
Cinderella? Where Cinderella is tormented by her ugly step sisters, but with the help of her fairy godmother and a few nice mice she catches the eye and heart of Prince Charming.
Princess Bride? Where Westley devotes his life to Buttercup and sacrifices everything to find her and be with her.
How many of you dreamed of a romance like one of those?
I still am. Who wouldn't want their true love to do anything (even crazy things) to show their love and protect them? But you know what I find even more beautiful than that? All these stories have two other things in common. They are each others first love. They never mention either person having past relationships. And the other thing is that neither person was looking for love when they found each other. Isn't that the most romantic thing about the stories? The princess and the prince were fully pure in their relationships. They had never loved another, let alone dated or kissed another. Isn't it interesting that neither person was looking for a relationship? They were living their own lives and trusted that the right person would come into their lives when it was the right time.
Purity has ground rules, but besides those rules, there is a lot for the individual to decide. This is my opinion on purity and these are the standards at which I hold my purity. I see purity and love as an apple. Have you ever been apple picking and you find a rich red apple without a single bruise, scratch, or marking? You protect that apple like it is a jewel. You can almost taste the over flowing flavors of the apple. As much as you want to take a big bite out of it right away, you wait til you get home. Once you get home, you wash the apple and at the right time you take a big juicy bite. It is the most delicious apple you have ever tasted, it is filled with flavor. That is just how your love and purity should be. You have the most beautiful apple, not a single bruise, scar, or plemish marking it. The apple is pure. You need to protect love because it is a jewel. Song of Songs 3:5 says, "Do not awake love until it so desires" Its not just talking about not kissing or having sex. It is talking about not falling in love until God shows you the one he has for you. When you awaken love before its time or you start to move into a relationship with someone that God does not have for you, you are not trusting God with your life and your relationships. You are taking it into your own hands. In this day and age love is taken very lightly, people fall in and out of love every other week. And they sacrifice a lot for it. They give their hearts to people, expecting them to magically heal it. And once they realize that that person can't heal their heart, they walk away and find someone knew. They always end up emotionally broken and exhausted. When you start to like a person, you are awakening love, you are no longer seeing them as a brother or sister. Timothy 5:1-2 " Treat younger men as brothers". You would never flirt with your brother! Guard your heart from falling into cheap love that you will regret. At the right time, God will show you the person he has hand picked for you. Would you rather have a 1 year warranty used car after 1 year warranty used car or wait for God to give you a custom built, one of a kind, lamborghini with a lifetime warranty? Live your life and accomplish some of the amazing things God has for you to do while you are single. Focus on him.
Read the story of Ruth, she looses her husband and is in a foreign land with her sister in law, Orpah & mother in law, Naomi. Ruth and Orpah have two choices, they could go back home and find themselves new husbands or they can stay and take care of their elderly mother in law who is also a widow. Orpah chooses to leave, but Ruth demands to stay with Naomi. Ruth learns to provide for Naomi, by going to a wealthy man's field and collecting the left over grains the harvesters leave behind. Ruth was focused and determined. The owner of the field was named Boaz. He took notice of her, he made sure that none of his servants touched her or rebuked her. He was protecting Ruth. In time, they fell in love with each other and he did everything he could to get her hand in marriage. Whats interesting is that Ruth nor Boaz were desperately looking for a relationship to jump into. They both were doing their own work and once God led them into each other's lives then they began to persue one another in God's timing. Let Love Sleep.
Thanks so much for sharing this Jolene! I had never thought about the different classic love stories like that. I think this is one of the most well written articles I have read on this topic. What a great picture of the beauty of waiting for God to work out His plan in our lives. Thank you for the encouragement!
ReplyDeleteWow, great article! So true. You really captured the heart of the whole topic. Your other articles are great too. Especially Cut the knife. Love your heart! Keep the articles coming. :-)
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