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Relationships & Dating

Just the Two of You: Jesus's First Step When Someone Wrongs You

When someone wrongs us, we tend to explode or go silent. In Matthew 18 Jesus lays out a third way, and its first step is small and private: go and talk, just the two of you. How that works in friendships, families and marriages, and when it is the wrong tool.

Relationships & Dating

Friends Twenty Years Apart: What Moses and Joshua, Elizabeth and Mary Knew

When Moses left the tent where he met with God, his young aide Joshua stayed behind. When Mary received news she could not explain, she went to an older relative. Some of Scripture's most important friendships cross a gap of decades, and most of us have almost none.

Relationships & Dating

First Dates That Let You Actually Meet Someone

Dinner and a movie is the classic first date, and it may be one of the worst ways to get to know a person: two hours of sitting silently in the dark, after an hour of performing for each other. Here are better ideas, and why they work.

Relationships & Dating

Faithful Wounds: How to Tell a Friend the Truth, and How to Hear It

Flattery is easy and costs nothing. Honest correction costs the one who speaks, which is exactly why Proverbs calls a friend's wounds trustworthy. How to say a hard thing well, and how to become someone people can say it to.

Relationships & Dating

Date on Purpose: Six Things That Matter More Than the Spark

Chemistry tells you someone is interesting. It cannot tell you whether they will be kind at 2 a.m. with a sick child, honest about money or faithful when life gets dull. Here are six things worth watching, the questions worth asking, and the red flags no spark should talk you out of.

Relationships & Dating

After the Breakup: Grieve It Honestly, Then Find Your Way Back

Your phone lights up and, for half a second, you think it is them. A breakup takes a person, a daily routine and a future you had already pictured, even when ending it was right. Scripture makes room for that grief, and for the slow walk back into your life.

Relationships & Dating

Boundaries in Dating: Guardrails, Not Walls

A boundary is a decision made on a clear day that protects you on a foggy one. In dating, good boundaries do not keep love out; they keep two people on the road long enough to find out whether it leads to marriage. Here are four kinds, and how to raise them without making it awkward.