There's an internet meme that runs something like this:
I am determined to live a life of pursuing God, of listening and yielding to His voice at every turn. In my life, there will be no check against His influence, no other force to rival it. My own feelings, my own thoughts, and the words of even the dearest friend and most trusted adviser will not hold a higher or even an equal place.
I have found this to be a necessity. If I want to live a life all out for God, holding nothing back, then I must trust Him completely and without reservations. If I hold back and put my trust in any other thing, it will fail. If I trust my feelings, my heart is full of lies and old wounds, upon which I will be irrecoverably ruined if I heed them above the Spirit. If I trust my thoughts, I find I am often mistaken in my opinions, and a mistaken belief can be fatal on the roads I will tread. Only God can protect me from such things. If I trust others above God or equal to His voice, they are human at best and twisted at worst. At best, they may make an honest mistake and cost me much pain. At worst, they pervert the truth and those who listen to them are tossed about by their winds of doctrine, with no anchor to hold them true. No, I will trust God to the point of placing no confidence in any other source (by comparison).
I would like a wife. A marriage is a beautiful thing, a picture of the divine romance between a human being and eternal God. For that reason, it is also some of the most perilous territory out there. I believe that God still wants me to travel that territory, for His glory, and I find this desirable. However, I recognize that it will take a special kind of woman to walk that country with me. It will not be safe, or ordinary. Nothing is for those who truly follow God. He has quite the wild side. No ordinary woman will be capable of walking the path I will walk. No woman who values safety above all else will dare.
So, I have some base requirements, some standards I will not negotiate on. The woman I will pursue must be able to hear from the Spirit, and listen to Him. She must love Him, be taken with Him. He must be the most valuable thing in her life, for the journey we take will likely cost us everything else. She must also place His voice and His influence first, above all others, including my own. Her heart will not be any more perfect than mine, and if she listens to it above God she will be ruined beyond my help on the roads we will travel. Her friends will not be any more enlightened either, nor will the world's influences be kinder, and if these are her council she will be destroyed. I do not want to lose her to either of these influences, for it is with this one other person that I intend to share my body and soul. Yet God must be more important and influential to each of us (as the Creator of our souls and bodies) than either of us, for we will not be perfect (I know I am not) and if we are the rulers in each others kingdoms, civil war will kill us both. If Christ rules our hearts, then we will prosper and grow together.
I am not going to hold these out as prerequisites, per se. I am willing, if the Lord wills it, to come alongside a woman who does not yet have these qualities and, with His grace, help her grow in them. She does not have to demonstrate these qualities constantly, for I know I slip, but God provides grace. They must be her character, though, or she must have that character grown in her. These are my requirements, and I will give no lesser woman a second look, regardless of her figure. If this is not her identity in Christ, then she is not my dream girl.
A woman's heart should be so lost in God that a man has to seek Him in order to find her.There is no male equivalent for this saying. There ought to be, in my opinion.
I am determined to live a life of pursuing God, of listening and yielding to His voice at every turn. In my life, there will be no check against His influence, no other force to rival it. My own feelings, my own thoughts, and the words of even the dearest friend and most trusted adviser will not hold a higher or even an equal place.
I have found this to be a necessity. If I want to live a life all out for God, holding nothing back, then I must trust Him completely and without reservations. If I hold back and put my trust in any other thing, it will fail. If I trust my feelings, my heart is full of lies and old wounds, upon which I will be irrecoverably ruined if I heed them above the Spirit. If I trust my thoughts, I find I am often mistaken in my opinions, and a mistaken belief can be fatal on the roads I will tread. Only God can protect me from such things. If I trust others above God or equal to His voice, they are human at best and twisted at worst. At best, they may make an honest mistake and cost me much pain. At worst, they pervert the truth and those who listen to them are tossed about by their winds of doctrine, with no anchor to hold them true. No, I will trust God to the point of placing no confidence in any other source (by comparison).
I would like a wife. A marriage is a beautiful thing, a picture of the divine romance between a human being and eternal God. For that reason, it is also some of the most perilous territory out there. I believe that God still wants me to travel that territory, for His glory, and I find this desirable. However, I recognize that it will take a special kind of woman to walk that country with me. It will not be safe, or ordinary. Nothing is for those who truly follow God. He has quite the wild side. No ordinary woman will be capable of walking the path I will walk. No woman who values safety above all else will dare.
So, I have some base requirements, some standards I will not negotiate on. The woman I will pursue must be able to hear from the Spirit, and listen to Him. She must love Him, be taken with Him. He must be the most valuable thing in her life, for the journey we take will likely cost us everything else. She must also place His voice and His influence first, above all others, including my own. Her heart will not be any more perfect than mine, and if she listens to it above God she will be ruined beyond my help on the roads we will travel. Her friends will not be any more enlightened either, nor will the world's influences be kinder, and if these are her council she will be destroyed. I do not want to lose her to either of these influences, for it is with this one other person that I intend to share my body and soul. Yet God must be more important and influential to each of us (as the Creator of our souls and bodies) than either of us, for we will not be perfect (I know I am not) and if we are the rulers in each others kingdoms, civil war will kill us both. If Christ rules our hearts, then we will prosper and grow together.
I am not going to hold these out as prerequisites, per se. I am willing, if the Lord wills it, to come alongside a woman who does not yet have these qualities and, with His grace, help her grow in them. She does not have to demonstrate these qualities constantly, for I know I slip, but God provides grace. They must be her character, though, or she must have that character grown in her. These are my requirements, and I will give no lesser woman a second look, regardless of her figure. If this is not her identity in Christ, then she is not my dream girl.
