We Have No Idea Who is Watching or Listening to Us

August is Guest Blogger Month at AFW! Our leadoff hitter this year is a true friend, mentor, and blessing in my life: Kris Swiatocho from The Singles Network ministries. Kris is a passionate author, speaker, and motivator for singles and singles ministries around the world. For more information, please visit her website at www.thesinglesnetwork.org. I pray you are as blessed by her words and heart as I am. -Matt

I recently wrote an article for Crosswalk called Jesus, Single Like Me:Friendships That Don't Lead to Marriage. Like most of the articles I write, I get email from those who have read it. Most of the emails are supporting what I have to say, thanking me or praying for my ministry, etc. But last week I had something different sent to me. A young man, 19 or so years old had read my article and proceeded to share with me some of his struggles. He had just recently started going to college. He asked me, how in the world could he be friends with women when there are so many around him. He also shared how he had started to date one of them and she did not believe in God. He was struggling with dating her knowing this. He had basically built the relationship on the physical first before any type of foundation of friendship. A focus on seeking Christ first had been thrown out of the picture until now, until his email.

I first thanked him for his honesty and transparency. It took a lot of courage to stop the relationship he was in. The Holy Spirit had been convicting him that things were not right. However, he wasn't sure what the next step was. He also wasn't sure how in the world do you build friendships with women and not have it go the wrong way. Well between my article and my comments back to him, as with all things, its starts with prayer, seeking Christ first with what He wants, practicing boundaries, protecting the other person/guarding their heart, and living the example because they are watching us, they are listening.

You see, when you are a believer and people know it, they are watching everything we say and do. They are watching to see if we fall. They are watching to see how we handle stress, our money, our attitude, our time, etc. So whether it’s in our friendship and ultimately who we date, to those we work with, to those who live next doors to even other believers, what we do or say could have an eternal effect on others.

Would you do me a favor and pray for this young man. God knows his name. He needs us to intercede for him to make the right choices, to deal with all those temptations that are around him, to keep Christ first and to find a group of other guys to hold him accountable.

This life can be so hard. I remember my college days (well most of them) and I can't image that it’s only gotten worse. The devil is on our campuses waiting to pounce. Join me in prayer for our young folks.