Let's Go Back to the Bible

13 Things Every Teen Needs to Know (#11)

You are making decisions in this part of your life that will have a lasting impact on the rest of your life!  If you wait to learn, know and implement these truths, then you may learn them too late.  Things that you are thinking, doing and planning right now will chart your course into adulthood.  So, I have something else that I hope you will truly consider, take to heart and keep with you for the rest of your life.

Tune your heart to this:  Pray and plan, right now, to marry a faithful Christian! The most important decision that you will ever make in your life is the decision to put yourself into the hand of Jesus and become a Christian.  The day a person is baptized is the very best day of his/her life!  The second most important decision you will ever make is the choosing of your marriage partner, for this decision is (as God designed it to be) a lifelong decision, that will have eternal consequences!  Don’t take (or make) this decision lightly!

Start praying right now! Pray that God will help you to stay determined to marry only a faithful Christian.  Pray that God will bring the right faithful Christian (for you) into your life to marry!  Realize that such a prayer should be prayed repeatedly (Luke 18:1), but realize and trust that God may not bring that person into life until much later.  Just keep praying!

Choose the right friends and influences in your life! “The righteous should choose his friends carefully” (Prov. 12:26).  This is true for a number of reasons, including that you will marry a friend.  Surround yourself with faithful Christians!

Do not become serious with anyone of the opposite sex who is not a faithful Christian! There are many reasons for this as well, namely that you will marry someone you date.  Therefore, don’t get serious with the wrong kind of person.

Decide right now that you will save yourself for your wedding night! Your body belongs to the Lord (1 Cor. 6:19-20), and your spouse is the only other one who has a right to your body, and that’s after marriage (1 Cor. 7:1-4).  Save yourself!

Marry the person who will help you get to heaven! The person you marry will have more personal impact on your faith, your service to Christ and your eternal destiny than any other person in your life!  Marrying the wrong person (who is not a faithful Christian) can and will make faithful living a tremendous challenge and struggle.  However, marrying the right person (who is a faithful Christian) can and will make faithful living a joint effort and a joint reward.  Your mate must want to go to heaven as much as you!

Why marry a faithful Christian? First, it is the will of God (1 Cor. 7:39; 9:5; 2 Cor. 6:14-7:1); second, doing otherwise jeopardizes your soul (Ex. 23:32-33; 34:10-16; Deut. 7:1-6)!