Lady of Conviction

Here is Chapter 9: Lady of Conviction.  This chapter was a good one, as it hammered on not lowering your standards to get married or even to date. I want to start this off with this funny quote: "Ruth's choice to wait for God's best resulted in her union with a Boaz rather than a Bozo."  I don't know why I find that funny, but think about it: what happens when you run ahead of God's timing/plans?  You usually end up either hurting yourself and/or hurting another person.  If you run ahead to get a Bozo when you could've gotten a Boaz by waiting, think about all the regret you'll have. "Ruth's wise choices resulted in her experiencing God's overwhelming goodness."   One thing I really liked about this chapter is how it emphasized NOT lowering your standards for any man.  I often think my ideals and standards are too high for anybody to reach.  Yet, as Josh Harris said in "I Kissed Dating Goodbye", you should set your standards so high that not even you can reach them.  Harris was referring to a standard of purity, but I think that setting your standards so high that nobody can reach them, then you might be less willing to compromise on your beliefs or standards.

For instance, I have a set of standards that I desire in a boyfriend/future husband. He cannot drink. Whatsoever. I just will not tolerate it in a boyfriend. That is a standard that I'm not willing to compromise on because I don't drink and I don't want to be with a boyfriend who does.  I don't care if he tells me "I'll quit drinking for you" because generally they never follow through with it.  "You cannot make good choices without proper, biblical convictions. Don't carelessly leave your dating/relating standards to chance."  And yes, I know that people in the Bible drank wine, but in reality, the wine of the time was little more than strong grape juice with little-no fermentation. You'd have to drink a ton of it to get drunk.  We're told that our bodies are a temple for/of the Holy Spirit, and we should treat our bodies accordingly. Drinking, smoking, drugs and promiscuous/pre-marital sex is abusing the temple of the Holy Spirit, so I don't stand for any of that in a future dating relationship.
They gave a list of example standards that would be good for anybody to model.
Qualities of Mr. Right:
1. Spirit-controlled Christian
2. Jesus is #1
3. Broken and fully dependent on Jesus
4. Ministry-minded
5. Motivator; man of vision
6. Sensitive spirit for others
7. Understands the responsibility of a husband to his wife
8. Humble enough to be teachable and teach others
9. Man of prayer
10. Family man
Most of my guidelines for Mr. Right are not far from this list, but I think that I'm going to adopt this list as my own.  Sound too good to be true?  You know, if God can number the hairs on your head, and watch the sparrows, don't you think He'll bring you His best if you're meant to get married?  Of course He will, if it's in His ultimate plan. So, before you go out on another date, or you're asked to date somebody, consider your standards. Will that person make you compromise, or will you stand firm on your beliefs and not budge an inch?

Chapter 10 is tomorrow, and though I've already read it, I've got a lot of thoughts on it!