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  • Princess Foo replied to the topic Question: What the Dickens is True Love? in the forum General Writing Discussions 7 years, 1 month ago

    @h-jones This is a really loaded question. I think I have some answers, but I’m not sure they are adequate to cover “the mysteries of love”.

    First, as @the-inkspiller said, marriage specifically is a reflection of Christ and the church. Ephesians 5:22-33 says, “Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.

    Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church— for we are members of his body. “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.”

    This is not the way that all men should relate to all woman, but how man and wife should relate to each other.

    Second, God is in control of everything. Romans 8:28 says, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” Therefore we know that God knows if you will marry, who you will marry, and when you will marry. And you cannot mess up His plan by marrying the wrong person.

    As for the “filling emotional needs” part, I think that part of it is just the world saying “Follow your heart. Do what makes you feel happy.” But it is also an important part of romance. I once heard a story of a Christian woman struggling with having a crush on someone who was not her husband because he filled an emotional need her husband did not. Obviously, she should not (and did not) “follow her heart” in this situation, but it seems that God created us with “emotional holes” for partners to fill. Or something like that, I haven’t thought it out completely.

    But if I was writing a romance, I wouldn’t look at it as “filling emotional holes”. I would look at it as making the other a better person. Love—true love from 1 Corinthians 13—makes people better people. The boy who sees her when no one else does shows her that she matters as a person, and helps her believe that God cares about her. The girl who helps him find joy in life teaches him to look for blessings in everything, even when she isn’t around. Ultimately, true love should draw everyone closer to God.

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