Do I Have to Get Over My Desire for Marriage to Be Fully Devoted to Jesus? Artwork

Hope Unyielding

On Hope Unyielding, people from all walks of life share personal stories of God’s faithfulness. It’s one thing to read about God’s faithfulness in Scripture; it’s another to look into the eyes of someone who has been in the darkness you are walking through but who has come through it with an even deeper confidence in God's love and goodness. Whatever you are facing, I pray that the stories shared on this podcast will encourage you with the truth that God is always faithful, and whatever your circumstances, you always have hope.

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Hope Unyielding

Do I Have to Get Over My Desire for Marriage to Be Fully Devoted to Jesus?

July 22, 2021 • Hope Johnson • Episode 29

“If God put that desire in you for a spouse, He plans to fulfill it. And if it’s not in His will for you to marry, then He will change your desires,” my mentors told me.

But as I approached my 30s with no husband in sight, it certainly didn’t seem like God planned to fulfill this desire. So why wasn’t He changing my desires like they told me He would? If Jesus was enough to satisfy, then why did this yearning for human love still persist?

I felt ashamed that after years of following Jesus, I hadn't achieved what I considered pure devotion to Him. But this shame, I realized, stemmed not from God, but from the myth that true satisfaction in Christ meant I would no longer desire marriage.

If you're in a similar place, I hope you'll join me on this journey from shame to freedom as I wrestle with being satisfied in and devoted to Jesus while still longing for an earthly romance.

This is part 1 in a 3-part series on myths I’ve believed about what it means to be satisfied in Christ when earthly desires go unfulfilled. This series is an adaptation of my free eBook, Unsatisfied, which you can download for free here or find on my website.

Sources:

McDowell, J. (2014). Prophecies of Jesus Fulfilled. https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=V8iyjJo2PPU

Love Letter from God. https://www.arielleford.com/love-letter-from-god/

MacLaren, A. Expositions of Holy Scripture.
https://biblehub.com/commentaries/maclaren/psalms/37.htm

The Four Noble Truths of Buddhism. https://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/buddhism/beliefs/fournobletruths_1.shtml

Keller, T. (2009). Counterfeit Gods: The Empty Promises of Money, Sex, and Power, and the Only Hope that Matters. New York: Dutton.