To close out our discussion of #6 of the TOP10 Dumbest Reasons to Date, “I’m Curious,” I’d like to suggest that personal experience is not the only way you can satisfy your curiosity about dating, romance or making out (in a hot tub full of frozen waffles on a glass elevator filled with stage fog wearing penguin costumes slathered in syrup).
Did I just over-share?
Well, whatever it is you’re curious about, though personal experience can be an effective teacher, it is often times a very harsh one. Why learn the hard way, especially when we’re talking about relationships – a vulnerable area of your life that impacts every other?
First a Sunday School Lesson: Remember that tree in the Garden of Eden, the one that revealed “the knowledge of good and evil.” Can you identify at what point that tree started doing its job? When did it begin revealing the knowledge of good and evil?
If you thought it was after Adam and Eve ate the fruit that “opened their eyes,” you wouldn’t be alone. It’s this very thought process that lures many into discovering for themselves the difference between good and evil – by personal experience. However, the tree actually began its work the moment God pointed it out to Adam.
God: See this garden? Everything in it is good… except for the fruit of this tree. If you eat of it you’ll die, because it’s bad.
Let me summarize:
1. Eating the fruit from this tree is EVIL
2. Doing anything else that might come to mind in this garden is GOOD
3. That’s the difference between good and evil
4. Any questions?
In those simple guidelines, God clearly delineated the difference between good and evil. No experience necessary – only faith – that is, trust that God wanted the very best for them and that He knew precisely what that was. The serpent suggested God was holding something good back from Adam and Eve. To the contrary: He had given them a great gift – the knowledge of good and evil without the personal experience of evil.
But the first couple let their curiosity get the better of them and they chose a different “gift” – the “opened eyes” (that regrettably could never be closed again).
God doesn’t want to hold anything good back from you either. He wants you to grow in love and live life to the full. But sometimes that full life will require taking Him at His word. This is the alternative to satiating your curiosity through personal experience: simply taking God at His word, trusting that God wants the very best for you and that He knows precisely what that is.
Curiosity is wonderful. Indeed, it allows us to wonder at God and His creation. It motivates a child to explore their backyard, a scientist to explore the cure to cancer, and lovers to explore the possibility of marriage. But as is true of many of God’s greatest gifts, curiosity can be dangerous. It leads a child to explore the knife drawer, a scientist to explore the internet for porn, and lovers to explore the limits of their passions.
Don’t let your curiosity drive you to make choices you can’t undo. Let it drive you to build enduring relationships instead of chase fleeting romance. Let it drive you to explore the soul of your date, instead of their sexuality. Let it drive you to pursue God together instead of merely pursuing each other.
Take God at His word. He’s been keeping it since the dawn of time.
When it comes to dating, what forbidden fruit tempts your curiosity?
- What would it be like to date a bad boy/girl? (1 Cor 15:33-34)
- How far is too far? (1 Thes 4:3-8)
- How can I know if they’re “the one” if I don’t test our “sexual compatibility?” (Gen 24:67)
- Is giving up my virginity really that big a deal to God? (Heb 12:15-17)
- If I’ve already lost my virginity does it really matter what I do? (John 8:3-11)
DNA: It’s What’s For Dating
The LoveEd study guide series, Beyond Sex & Salvation, is for those who want to take God at His word when it comes to relationships. Check out the first two study 8-lesson study guides in our store. Then put together an FMU LoveEd small group study with same-gender friends and you’ll grow in God’s word and relationships at the same time. (Frozen waffles not included.)
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