Another year has passed.
Are you any closer to where you wanted to be relationally?
Perhaps you hoped to be married by now. Or engaged. Or at least in a serious dating relationship. Or just dating!
Or perhaps you’d settle for a date. One. Single. Date.
Even an awkward one. At least then you could have a funny story to tell. Well, one that’s funny a year or so later. After therapy.
Or, not so funny: maybe you find yourself in a dead-end relationship you fear might be a mistake. Or know is a mistake. A terrible mistake.
Or are you trying to recover from heartbreak, rejection, and regret resulting from the mistakes of your past?
Whatever brought you here, if you are ready to grow spiritually and date wisely so you can marry well, you’ve come to the right place. That’s why I’ve been sharing Christian Date Night Advice in our DNA blog since 2007.
However, I realize it can be overwhelming to digest hundreds of posts released over the course of 17 years, so to focus your visit, here are the TOP 5 MOST READ posts of 2024. And to clarify, they’re not the most read posts published this year. They’re the most read posts of the year, among all our posts published over the course of the lifetime of this DNA blog.
That means, if you’re new here, this is a great place to start your journey of relational maturity. And if you’ve been coming for a while, this post is your handy year-end recap.
#5: How to Date and Guard Your Heart
This excerpt gets to the heart of this post:
Your heart—that is what you risk every time you date. Even when you’re thinking, What the hay. I’ll just give this person a chance. No one can predict when they will fall in love. No one.
Do you think risking your heart is a small thing?
Apparently, the wisest man in the world once thought the same. However, true to God’s warning, when Solomon chose to give his heart to women who did not follow the God of scriptures, bad things happened. Really bad things. And not just for Solomon, but for the entire nation of Israel… [Read the rest of this Christian Date Night Advice post here.]
#4: Sex and Marriage
Sex and marriage go together, but not exactly how many think, as I begin to unpack in this portion of that post:
Of course, Paul isn’t promoting marriage as the solution to your lust problem. Everyone must eventually learn to exercise self-control in all areas of temptation, including sexual temptation. Especially sexual temptation.
This reality is why marriage is the best reason to wait for sex, but sex is the worst reason to rush into marriage.
Because marriage isn’t about sex. It’s the other way around.
Sex is about marriage… [Read the rest of this Christian Date Night Advice post here.]
#3: “You Got Fine Written All Over You!” (Part I)
This post which came out of our DNA series, TOP 10 Signs You’re on a Bad First Date, addresses this pick-up line which reads like a lame dad joke:
“Are you a parking ticket? Cuz you got ‘fine’ written all over you.”
Is the deliverer of this pick-up line saying:
A) I feel like I could get into trouble with you.
B) You look like you have expensive tastes.
C) I literally view you as a fee I’m going to have to pay.
D) You literally have the word “fine” written all over you.
E) None of the above
#2: Your Boyfriend Caught by Porn? Read this before it’s too Late!
This post has sadly been one of our most read posts on our DNA blog year after year after year, and begins like a letter:
Dear Girlfriend (who caught your boyfriend with porn),
So your boyfriend has a thing for pornography.
I’m so sorry.
But I’m glad too.
Sorry it’s true, but glad you know the truth now rather than later.
Because your boyfriend’s porn use directly impacts you. It’s not just a private matter between him and the women in the pictures and the videos. It’s about him and women period. That naturally includes you.
It especially includes you… [Read the rest of this Christian Date Night Advice post here.]
#1: Is Abstinence God’s Will for Your Dating Life?
In our hyper-sexualized culture, I never thought so many would be searching the internet for the topic of abstinence, but I’m glad they were, because they got to read content like the following:
The understandable (but completely wrong) conclusion many come to from reading about sex in the Bible is that sex is bad.
But let’s remember who came up with the whole idea! Our Creator!
Take note, this passage from 1 Thessalonians 4 (along with all the many passages like it) is not condemning sex. These passages condemn sexual sin… [Read the rest of this Christian Date Night Advice post here.]
Little known fact: three of the above posts contain excerpts pulled right from Date Like You Know What You’re Doing: Your DatePrep Guide. I wrote it to empower YOU to grow spiritually and date wisely so you can marry well. Check out the book and video curriculum here. Or watch this video and THEN click the previous link.
