Jesus Comes First

Ross King, in his song "Clear the Stage" sings:

"Anything I put before my God is an idol.
Anything I want with all my heart is an idol.
Anything I can't stop thinking of is an idol.
Anything that I give all my love is an idol"

It's a very powerful message that makes us have to stop and think about what we've been spending all our time doing, wanting, thinking about etc. And, of course, this includes relationships we have with people.

My husband broke up his lesson into three parts, and I'll do the same here, but like I told someone last night, even though the points sound the same, it's my own take on the lesson.

Building our relationship with Jesus

As you can see, this lesson was about putting Jesus first in, well, everything. So before we start a relationship with someone else, we need to make sure our relationship with Jesus is where it should be (or going in the right direction. First off, I need to ask the question: Have you accepted Jesus as your Savior? This is the foundation, the beginning of a relationship with Him. You see, we are not perfect and therefore have no way of redeeming ourselves or no way to get to heaven on our own. Jesus is perfect, and volunteered to die in our stead so that we could have a personal relationship with Him and one day live with Him in Heaven!
If you are a believer, then where is your relationship? Are you putting aside some time to spend with Him? or are you too busy? I struggle with making sure I spend one on one time with him. My husband and I study the Bible together (which is great! I love having that time where we read scripture together and get to talk about things we are both reading about!) but I also need to spend some individual time as well.

Once you are in a relationship with someone else, you must realize that:

Your dating relationship is part of your witness!

As my husband said last night, if you are not putting God first (and putting that other person first instead) others can tell. How? By how much you are willing to compromise the guidelines you made to be with that person. Your relationships are a light to others around you. It is a witness and shows your relationship with God!
My husband and I talked only about two weeks after we started dating (before we 'fell in love') about how that we were going to put God first, and that each other would be second...not first! I am so glad we talked about this, because it helped keep each other accountable.
Remember, what ever you do, do all for the glory of God (see I Corinthians 10:31), which includes dating. This can mean that:

Sometimes dating someone will not bring God glory

You know those dry spells, when it seems no one is interested (and you are not interested)? Instead of getting down or depressed, see it as a time where maybe God is saying let's work on our relationship! If you dated during that time it might not bring glory to God.
When I was nineteen I moved to Thailand (you can see some of my stories at missionseahelper.blogspot.com)  and spent three  years there. My purpose for going was to spend my single years wisely (I'll talk more about singleness next week), and it gave me an opportunity to serve God and bring glory to Him there, and there God made a way for me to meet my husband and give glory to God by dating, and eventually marrying, him!

So remember: "Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need." Matthew 6:33 NLT