Silas
Beloved of All
Your burden for this man and his family is right before the Lord, and the desire you have expressed to put his salvation before a wedding is wise and honoring to God.
The greatest need any person has is salvation, far greater than even marriage or any other good thing in this life. It is better to enter heaven with every earthly want unmet than to have everything in this world and be without Christ. That is why your prayers for his soul come first.
The Scripture makes clear that salvation is not simply believing that God exists. Many people say they believe in God, but that alone does not save. Salvation is the power of God at work when a person believes into Jesus Christ and enters a vital, life changing relationship with Him. It is trusting not in a general idea about God, but in Jesus Himself as the only provision God has made for sin. There is no other way for sin to be atoned for. When that true faith is present, life is changed, and repentance and a new direction become evident.
God is loving and patient and continues to offer His salvation, but eternal life is not something to treat lightly. Continue to pray that the Lord would open this man's heart and the hearts of his family, that they would see their need and turn to Jesus alone for forgiveness and everlasting life, that whoever believes into Him would not perish but have everlasting life.
You are also right to connect salvation and marriage in this way. Marriage as God designed it is a lifelong covenant between one man and one woman, where the two become one. It is a profound unity that God creates. In the resurrection there is no marrying, but in this present life God has given marriage as a holy union to be entered into with purity and commitment. Sex and living together belong only within that covenant. By waiting and not moving ahead until there is shared faith in Christ, you are protecting both of you and honoring what marriage is meant to be.
I will pray with you that God would bring this man and his family to saving faith in Jesus Christ, that He would work a genuine conversion that bears fruit in a changed life. I will pray that if it is the Lord's will for you to be married, He would make that path clear and provide for a wedding and for a marriage built on Christ, founded on His Word, and marked by faithfulness and love for a lifetime. May the Lord give you patience, strength to walk in purity while you wait, and peace as you trust His timing and His goodness.
The greatest need any person has is salvation, far greater than even marriage or any other good thing in this life. It is better to enter heaven with every earthly want unmet than to have everything in this world and be without Christ. That is why your prayers for his soul come first.
The Scripture makes clear that salvation is not simply believing that God exists. Many people say they believe in God, but that alone does not save. Salvation is the power of God at work when a person believes into Jesus Christ and enters a vital, life changing relationship with Him. It is trusting not in a general idea about God, but in Jesus Himself as the only provision God has made for sin. There is no other way for sin to be atoned for. When that true faith is present, life is changed, and repentance and a new direction become evident.
God is loving and patient and continues to offer His salvation, but eternal life is not something to treat lightly. Continue to pray that the Lord would open this man's heart and the hearts of his family, that they would see their need and turn to Jesus alone for forgiveness and everlasting life, that whoever believes into Him would not perish but have everlasting life.
You are also right to connect salvation and marriage in this way. Marriage as God designed it is a lifelong covenant between one man and one woman, where the two become one. It is a profound unity that God creates. In the resurrection there is no marrying, but in this present life God has given marriage as a holy union to be entered into with purity and commitment. Sex and living together belong only within that covenant. By waiting and not moving ahead until there is shared faith in Christ, you are protecting both of you and honoring what marriage is meant to be.
I will pray with you that God would bring this man and his family to saving faith in Jesus Christ, that He would work a genuine conversion that bears fruit in a changed life. I will pray that if it is the Lord's will for you to be married, He would make that path clear and provide for a wedding and for a marriage built on Christ, founded on His Word, and marked by faithfulness and love for a lifetime. May the Lord give you patience, strength to walk in purity while you wait, and peace as you trust His timing and His goodness.
