Treat … women like sisters, with absolute purity.

-1 Timothy 5:2

 

Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts, which wage war against the soul. Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may on account of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation.

– 1 Peter 2:11-12 (Read Relevant message from Desiring God)

 

When a man and woman are dating, they know sex is bound to happen if God leads them to marriage, therefore many wisely avoid flirting with temptation by discussing sexually arousing topics.

Similarly, I envisioned dating with foreknowledge of an ANR working the same way. Because they both know an ANR will eventually happen, the unmarried couple need not discuss it much, rather, they should keep spiritual matters in the foreground, the knowledge of an ANR in marriage in the distant background and not awaken love before it pleases.

Since an ANR is a unique expression of intimacy, I find this goal very feasible. I still see all the potential girlfriends to whom I revealed this desire as sisters in Christ, ladies for whom God died, to be protected and guarded, and they also view me through similar lenses.

Thank God that it’s hard for authentic Christians to have an ANR before marriage without being discovered, because the relationship requires spending many hours together in private, on a weekly basis.

I’m also thankful that I usually don’t look with lustful, ANR intent at women I meet on a day-to-day basis, instead I’m hoping to enjoy this relationship with my future wife only. I believe this to also be the case for most single Christians who desire Couples Nursing.