Here’s a familiar scenario: a woman is dating a guy and thinks, “Ok, so he has A-B-C-D going on and he’s a bum, but I love him.” Then she marries him and in the not-too-distant future she becomes…well, miserable. She’ll then come to someone like me for counseling. I often ask, “You didn’t see this before you were married?” Then she’ll tell me, “Yes, but I thought I could change him.”
I think a lot of people are not being totally honest during the dating process. Or many feel obligated to follow through with a relationship just because they have been dating for a while, even though they may have some strong reservations. But if you are struggling with any aspect of who a person is, you probably need to look at that as a red flag. Ultimately, that is what the dating process is for – to decide, based on what you have learned, whether or not to marry that person.
As people of the Christian faith – a faith that stresses hope for our future, despite the failings of our past – we oftentimes deliberately ignore a person’s past when deciding on a mate. And while everyone makes mistakes, some mistakes have consequences and ramifications that can follow us for the rest of our lives. Granted, God doesn’t hold our past mistakes against us if we come to him in true repentance, but those mistakes can still have consequences that may negatively affect our future relationships, particularly in a marriage.
Check out the full devotional here
Inspired by Mark Gungor
