We Love God!

God: "I looked for someone to take a stand for me, and stand in the gap" (Ezekiel 22:30)

If Christ loved the weak believer to the extent of laying down his life for his salvation, how alien to the demands of this love is the refusal on the part of the strong to forego the use of a certain article of food [or anything else] when the religious interests of the one for whom Christ died are thereby imperiled! It is the contrast between what the extreme sacrifice of Christ exemplified and the paltry demand devolving upon us that accentuates the meanness of our attitude when we discard the interests of a weak brother. And since the death of Christ as the price of redemption for all believers is the bond uniting them in fellowship, how contradictory is any behavior that is not patterned after the love which Christ’s death exhibited!
John Murray

Women, too, need to remember the appropriate level of commitment and intimacy on a first date. Guard your heart and your expectations. Do not enter into a first date dreaming about marriage or trying out his last name with your first name; be emotionally prepared for it not to work out. One of the reasons the Christian man may be uneasy about dating is that the risk is too high among many other believers. If he doesn’t end up marrying her, his name will be mud with all the other women at church! Such a man fears to date lest he be forced to leave a church he loves. This kind of situation is unreasonable and unfair; the woman can help by keeping expectations in check and allowing the man to interact with her without easily breaking her heart. But insist that he treat you with respect and care, and do the same to him in return. Like the man, you should resolve that time he spends in your company will have been to his spiritual blessing and will have been pleasing to the Lord. If you don’t want to go out again, be honest. But don’t tell your friends about the things you found unattractive; protect his reputation and cover his flaws in love (Richard and Sharon Phillips).
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