Counsels on Relationships

Counsel #12 — Lessons In Love

Picture: Counsel #12 — Lessons In Love CR 110.1

Dating offers valuable lessons about relationships and character development, even when a breakup occurs. Through dating, you can learn the importance of patience, selflessness, and setting healthy boundaries. Additionally, dating can better teach you things to avoid for the next relationship. CR 110.2

Even if a relationship ends, the experience can still bring growth and wisdom. For example, after a breakup, you might realize the importance of open communication or learn to identify red flags earlier on. On the other hand, dating experiences can also reveal what qualities to avoid, such as dishonesty, selfishness, or sacrificing your morals and values for someone else’s flesh-based desires. Breakups, while painful, can serve as opportunities to draw closer to God if you allow Him to guide your perspective on the matter and heal your heart from the failed connection. By embracing lessons from both the highs and lows of dating, you will grow in maturity, faith, and readiness for the love God intends you to experience in the right relationship.⁶ CR 110.3

“It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees.” Psalms 119:71 NIV CR 110.4

“And those who do not love or fear God soon lose all sense of obligation to one another. They are without God and without hope in the world.” Ellen White in Christian Experience and Teachings of Ellen G. White, p. 50 CR 110.5

Reflect: What is one lesson you’ve learned from dating? CR 110.6