John 13:12-14
How will you know if God approves of your relationship? Here are 3 signs that God approves of your relationship.
If the Relationship Is Increasing Your Motivation for Ministry, This Is a Sign God Approves of Your Relationship
If you want to know what God wants for you individually, you have to first know what God wants for all his people generally. While God does care about the personal desires you have for a relationship, God is more concerned with your willingness to serve him in your life. John 13:12-14 states:
When [Jesus] had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.”
One sign that God approves of your relationship is if this partnership is increasing your motivation for ministry rather than decreasing it. If the two of you are encouraging each other to serve God and empowering one another to use your gifts for the Lord, this is a good sign.
If the Relationship Is Fulfilling the Purpose of Wise Christian Dating, This Is a Sign God Approves of Your Relationship
Believe it or not, it is not a sin to date someone who is not going to be your spouse one day. God is not disappointed with you if you date someone and then you breakup eventually. It doesn’t mean God didn’t lead you to date this person just because the two of you did not get married. It doesn’t mean you missed God’s will if you felt led to move forward with someone but then you felt led to stop the relationship.
God speaks through the process of dating. Certainly he can speak in other ways. But often times God will answer your questions about a certain person through putting you two together for a brief period of time in dating.
So I believe God approves of relationships that are in a healthy season of gauging the future together. That’s what wise Christian dating is all about. The goal of dating should not be marriage. Rather, the goal of dating should be to gauge whether or not God wants you two to be married.
If you know God doesn’t not want you to marry this person, you should breakup. If you know God is leading you to get married, you should pursue marriage. If you are unsure what God is saying, you should keep dating to figure it out. I believe the only dating relationships that God does not approve of are those relationships which he has made clear to you that he does not want you in.
If the relationship is unbiblical, causing sin in your life, or you simply know God is leading you away from this person but you keep ignoring God’s leading, then God does not approve of these relationships. But if you are simply going through the normal phases of Christian dating to gauge what God wants, I believe God approves of these relationships even if this person does not end up being your future spouse.
As long as no sin is occurring and as long as you move forward into marriage or breaking up in a reasonable time once you know what God wants, then Christian dating is helpful.
If the Relationship Is Biblical and the Relationship Is Something You Both Want, God Approves of This Relationship
The two main requirements for a Christian marriage is obedience to the word of God and personal desire for this union. If the relationship is not biblical, it’s not what God wants. Don’t ask God to bless what is not biblical. If you want God in the relationship, the relationship needs to be holy and in obedience to God’s commands.
However, marriage and romance are not biblical requirements. They are, however, biblical options for those who want these things. So if you do not really want to marry someone but you know this person is a mature believer and would make a good spouse, this is not what God wants. He would not approve of an unwanted relationship in one of his children’s lives.
If, however, two mature Christians are obeying the word of God and they truly want to be with each other in a relationship, God approves of this relationship. As it says in 1 Corinthians 7:36, “If anyone thinks that he is not behaving properly toward his betrothed, if his passions are strong, and it has to be, let him do as he wishes: let them marry—it is no sin.”