This free online book will show you how to build a romantic relationship from the ground level up, in the image of Christ and the church. Includes special applications for meeting on the Christian matchmaking websites. Access The Table of Contents with chapter synopses and links, below.

  Section 1: The Days of Preparation      This section addresses the reader’s singleness in preparation for a match. The Scriptures present Christ and the church as a model for Christian relationships, and each topic ends with special applications for the Internet. Chapter 1: A Season of Singleness      Most Christians will be single for only a short period of their adult lives. Using this time to seek the Lord will make them better Christians and, through a natural process, much better marital candidates. Understanding the relationship between Christ and the church fully prepares them for both. Chapter 2: The Question of Singleness or Marriage      Is marriage right for you? Recent books have clouded the issue. This chapter looks to Jesus in His relationship with the church to explore the question from a heavenly point of view. Chapter 3: The Question You Keep Asking Yourself      The reader is del...

       Christian romance is a journey in the footsteps of Jesus. From the initial acquaintance, a relationship may lead to friendship, to dating – and then the couple may fall in love. Courtship may follow as the relationship grows, possibly leading to marriage.      If God has truly opened this door, He will guide you further, so it’s helpful to know His mind at each step. We all know that Christ and the church is the heavenly model for Christian marriage (Ephesians 5:20-33), but what about the searching, meeting and courtship days?      In this book, Jesus becomes the example throughout: for He came to seek, meet and draw His bride to Himself; and we are still in that courtship phase today; for the marriage of the Lamb has not yet come (Luke 19:10; Matthew 25:6; John 12:32; Isaiah 62:5; John 3:29).      Therefore, let us consider the whole concept: Jesus’ intention, from the very beginning, was marria...

       “Most of you in this room will be getting married one day,” said the pastor to our College group. “But until that day, you’ve been called to a season of singleness; a time when you may serve the Lord without distraction. So you should learn to focus your attention on Him to make the most of this time.” ( First Corinthians 7:32-35 ).      Like the other young people in that room, I smiled uncomfortably. The passage he had referenced. about the advantage of staying single, was dreaded by many Christian singles, yet he’d phrased it in a way that brought relief instead. It wasn’t so bad when we thought of it as a season, and we could bear it more easily. Possibly, we could even rejoice in it.      I’d become a Christian a year earlier, at the age of twenty-one. Little had I known it, but my own season of singleness would last another twenty-one years, so that I would finally be getting married at age forty-two. My wife N...

       If you’re reading this book, you’ve probably decided that the single life is not for you, or at least that you don’t want to remain part of it forever. Most of us will become married one day. But of course, not all Christians will want that option:      Some, like Paul and Barnabas, will choose to never marry, and their minds will be at peace with their decision. They have learned to regard their singleness as a gift (First Corinthians 9:5-6; 7:7). Indeed, Jesus himself will only be married at last, when we are joined with Him in glory at the end of days.      But others, especially Christian women, will find themselves in a third category: that faltering realm of misery and doubt between the two opinions. Their thoughts of singleness or of marriage, either one, bring such misery that they simply cannot choose between them. If you think you may be a part of that group, or if you meet a potential partner from there,...

       If you believe your future would look happier with marriage, then you stand with the vast majority of mankind. Your desire is in the course of nature as God Himself has designed you. But it leads to the eternal question of “Why?”     Am I asking,  “Why would you want to meet someone special?” No, the answer to that speaks for itself. The real question is more sensitive. If you think you’d like a companion in life but you’ve remained single, then the question must be, “What has been holding you back?”      However indelicate this question may seem, it must be delicately asked and you must honestly consider it for yourself. Because if something has held you back until now, it may continue to do so until you’ve addressed it.      For most of us, there may be a combination of reasons. As one of them is resolved, another one steps up in its place: like the steps of a clumsy dancer, something keeps bl...

       In 1982, through a series of circumstances, I began a Scriptural study over the church of the last days. No, not the world events such as plagues, wars and rumors of wars, but the church itself as it will appear on the inside , in the final days before Jesus returns to the earth.      The true Christians of those days will have a special way of interpreting the scrip­tures. With a passionate focus they will seek the testimony of Jesus, which will transform their lives in every way (Ephesians 4:13). As the return of the groom draws near, anticipation will run high; the glorious bride will yearn for her husband and make herself ready, to admire Him at His appearing and rise to the great wedding feast with Him, when she is called to meet Her glorious husband in the sky:      “And the Spirit and the bride say, "Come!" And let him who hears say, "Come!" … He who testifies to these things says, "Surely I am coming quickly....