aphesis paraptoma
I know this is not on topic per se but since this was a prayer post maybe this will not violate the spirit or purpose of the thread, at least I hope not.
That comment about evangelism/discipleship is the exact key to this whole process.
The key to a God-centered, God glorifying life is the goal to make disciples in the Lord.
Marriage is only one puzzle piece to the process. If more men would get busy in going out to seek and save the lost (Prov. 11:30), and by that I mean being consumed in the work of the gospel first and foremost, as the Messiah commanded us to be busy about (Matt. 28:18-20; Acts 1:6-8) then the other pieces would fall into place.
But, because of the physical desire for sex many men elevate sex above the gospel and above the goal of reaching the lost. The gospel takes precedence and the goal to find and pursue a wife must be subordinate to the desire and goal of leading a woman or woman and her existing family into a holy and righteous lifestyle in the Lord where they honor the word of God, which may even mean they don't marry the one leading them spiritually.
I have literally seen men who will shed no tear or money to win the lost but will go out of their way to win over a woman's heart for marriage as they pray and shed tears and money. Such shows the priority of the heart. Does the temporal fleshly union (which is good) outweigh the eternal spiritual union (which is greater)? Not according to the Bible it does not. The eternal takes precedence over the temporal and what good does it gain a man if he gains the whole world (with many wives included) yet he loose his own soul in the process.
The gospel must be elevated to a prime position of highest importance as a disciple of the Messiah and as we go about making disciples if God brings one wife or more then so be it. If the major premise is right (go and make disciples, whether they be male or female and whether it leads to mariage or not) then God will provide the rest as is needed. As the Messiah said: "Seek first my kingdom and righteousness and all the things you need will be added unto you" (Matt. 6:33). Proverbs said it this way: "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not to your own understanding, but in all your ways acknolwedge him and he shall direct your paths" (Proverbs 3:5-6)
When one's priorities is straight the other pieces fall into place.
But what a shame it will be on judgment day for a man to stand before the Messiah and he ask for an account of what he has done with his life and his answer is: "Well I chased after women all of my life trying to get more and more to marry me." And then the Messiah asks: "Well ok, you were a man after my heart in one way and you wanted women to marry you. But what did you do with my gospel? How did you fulfill the great commission?" And then the man says: "Well, i wanted to but I needed more wives to do it and only one came along. My time was then spent in seeking more wives not more souls." And then Jesus replies: "Had you been busy attending to my eternal desires i would have also fulfilled your temporal desires. Yet you reversed the order and focused on the temporal over the eternal and thus I gave to you no more than one wife because you were not faithful over the fews things I gave so I never made you responsible for any more than that."
What a shame that would be, and as it looks some will certainly be in that boat. A life spent trying to gain more wives instead of first being heart-broken over lost souls all around them, which is the ultimate passion of the Messiah's heart foremost.
As I said above, if the major is the focus then the minors will fall into place. But if the minor is the focus then often both the minor and major will be lost.
Dr. Allen
