What to avoid while waiting to marry (part 1)
When you are in transition from one particular season of life into another and waiting to get married, there are millions of temptations that come to your path. For example, when you are taking a step from being childless to being a parent, and from being single to being married, this is a time of anxiety, waiting, anticipation, and excitement. It is also a time of preparation and growth towards maturity. For many singles, the time of waiting which leads up to marriage is difficult. The waiting can get the better of you and can wear you out.
That is why it is important to be on guard for the behaviours and attitudes that come from getting impatient and from acting impulsively. Avoid sleeping around and being sexually loose. When you sell your body in exchange for money or anything else you cheapen yourself and make yourself vulnerable and susceptible to many dangers. You are worth more than being a sex object. Your body was not meant to be prostituted. Your body is valuable, and should be treated with great respect. Treat yourself with respect and insist that other people treat you with respect.
Don’t allow people to touch you in inappropriate ways. Any touching that leads to sexual arousal is not healthy for you or the other person. Having sexual intimacy for pleasure without being married will create many problems for you and other people in your life. Avoid sleeping with another person’s spouse. The desire to be married or to be loved should never lead you into a married person’s bed. Not only do you contribute to breaking a marriage covenant, but you also set yourself up to be cheated on once you get married. Furthermore, your self-esteem decreases when you stoop that low just to feel close to someone.
The married person may string you along and promise marriage to you at some point. But just know this, if he/she cheated the first time, there is a strong likelihood that cheating will occur again. Either way you will reap what you sow. Avoid being jealous or envious of another person’s spouse or marriage. Single women who desire a married man often say, “I can be a better wife than she is.” “She does not treat her husband like he is supposed to be treated.” “I am nicer/sexier/smarter than she is. “Why can’t I find a man?” On the other hand, men might wonder, “How did he get that kind of woman?” “He is not making the kind of money that I am making.” These types of comparisons don’t lead to the marriage of your dreams.
They lead to competition, low self-esteem, and an envious attitude. When you secretly desire someone else’s marriage, you don’t have any room in your heart for God to bless you with your own marriage. Instead of making comparisons and being jealous, why not be happy for the couples you know and do your best to stay out of their business.