Links that make me think: Part 7

The Valentine's Day edition...
 
Nine Lies in the Not-Yet-Married Life (John Piper)

1. I’m selfish because I’m still single, and I don’t have anyone to care for my needs and feelings.
2. I’m anxious because I’m still single, and I don’t know if God will ever bring me a spouse.
3. I’m impatient because I’m still single, and I’ve waited a long, long time to be married.
4. I can be cold and indifferent toward others because I’m still single, and I have a hard enough time dealing with my own stuff.
5. I don’t value virtue and integrity like I should because I’m still single. I’ll work on those things when I get married and have a family.
6. I’m flakey and unreliable because I’m still single, and you can’t expect single people to make or keep commitments.
7. I’m harsh with others because I’m still single, and they don’t understand how hard I have it.
8. I’m undisciplined and keep sinning because I’m still single. The freedom feels good and no one knows, cares, or is affected by my behavior.
9. I’m depressed and miserable because I’m still single, and I won’t really be happy until I get married.

Friendship and Marriage (Jay Younts)

The world wants people, including Christians, to see romance as the foundation of marriage. Christians must become transformed in their thinking, so that they see friendship is the foundation. Romance is volatile by nature. The fact that romance tends to run hot then cold, and then hot again, is one of the worldly attractions of romance. This may be a great attraction for movies and the social elite scene, but for marriage, not so much! Friendship that flows from romance will be as up and down as romance and romantic feelings tend to be...

If friendship comes first, then romance can be built on a solid, lasting foundation. With this perspective, romance can become stable and grow in warmth and excitement... Romance that flows from friendship will have a sure foundation. This may not make for exciting headlines, but it will make for love that can withstand the storms of life and our sin.

23 Things That Love Is (Paul David Tripp)

1. LOVE IS... being willing to have your life complicated by the needs and struggles of others without impatience or anger.
2. LOVE IS... actively fighting the temptation to be critical and judgmental toward another while looking for ways to encourage and praise.
3. LOVE IS... making a daily commitment to resist the needless moments of conflict that come from pointing out and responding to minor offenses.
4. LOVE IS... being lovingly honest and humbly approachable in times of misunderstanding.
5. LOVE IS... being more committed to unity and understanding than you are to winning, accusing, or being right.
6. LOVE IS... a making a daily commitment to admit your sin, weakness, and failure and to resist the temptation to offer an excuse or shift the blame.
7. LOVE IS... being willing, when confronted by another, to examine your heart rather than rising to your defense or shifting the focus.
8. LOVE IS... making a daily commitment to grow in love so that the love you offer to another is increasingly selfless, mature, and patient.
9. LOVE IS... being unwilling to do what is wrong when you have been wronged, but looking for concrete and specific ways to overcome evil with good.
10. LOVE IS... being a good student of another, looking for their physical, emotional, and spiritual needs so that in some way you can remove the burden, support them as they carry it, or encourage them along the way.
11. LOVE IS... being willing to invest the time necessary to discuss, examine, and understand the relational problems you face, staying on task until the problem is removed or you have agreed upon a strategy of response.
12. LOVE IS... being willing to always ask for forgiveness and always being committed to grant forgiveness when it is requested.
13. LOVE IS... recognizing the high value of trust in a relationship and being faithful to your promises and true to your word.
14. LOVE IS... speaking kindly and gently, even in moments of disagreement, refusing to attack the other person’s character or assault their intelligence.
15. LOVE IS... being unwilling to flatter, lie, manipulate, or deceive in any way in order to co-opt the other person into giving you what you want or doing something your way.
16. LOVE IS... being unwilling to ask another person to be the source of your identity, meaning, and purpose, or inner sense of well-being, while refusing to be the source of theirs.
17. LOVE IS... the willingness to have less free time, less sleep, and a busier schedule in order to be faithful to what God has called you to be and to do as a spouse, parent, neighbor, etc.
18. LOVE IS... a commitment to say no to selfish instincts and to do everything that is within your ability to promote real unity, functional understanding, and active love in your relationships.
19. LOVE IS... staying faithful to your commitment to treat another with appreciation, respect, and grace, even in moments when the other person doesn’t seem deserving or is unwilling to reciprocate.
20. LOVE IS... the willingness to make regular and costly sacrifices for the sake of a relationship without asking for anything in return or using your sacrifices to place the other person in your debt.
21. LOVE IS... being unwilling to make any personal decision or choice that would harm a relationship, hurt the other person, or weaken the bond of trust between you.
22. LOVE IS... refusing to be self-focused or demanding, but instead looking for specific ways to serve, support, and encourage, even when you are busy or tired.
23. LOVE IS... daily admitting to yourself, the other person, and God that you are unable to be driven by a cruciform love without God’s protecting, providing, forgiving, rescuing, and delivering grace.