Wake Up, Look Up

Hello everyone, and thanks for listening to Wake Up, Look Up, a podcast where we connect events happening in real time to the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm Zach Weihrauch, and in today's episode we're asking the question, is this the secret to successful dating? This is prompted by a Molly Reinman article in the Wall Street Journal recently called Singles are so burnt out they're letting spreadsheets evaluate their dates. Basically, what Ryman is looking at is a growing trend where young people are really not trusting their own judgment or instinct or meet cute bump ins to a person they're interested in and instead turning prospective dating partners into data sets. In other words, creating spreadsheets that are looking at how compatible their beliefs are, whether or not their friends like them, whether, whether or not their career prospects are positive. In fact, one guy is selling a 999 dating spreadsheet that you use for someone and has sold more than 10,000 of them to young people trying to figure out, using data, is this the right person for me to date? Experts are saying this is a shield against vulnerability. relationships that don't last are painful. And a younger generation is saying, if I can avoid that by figuring out this like a mathematical equation, then I want to. Now other people are saying you can't turn something like love into a data formula. How should we think about this? Well, believe it or not, I actually think, this is at least in the direction of a good thing. I don't mean that you should figure out who you're going to date based on a spreadsheet, but for a long time, the lie of American culture has been to listen to your heart. That if you'll just listen to your heart, it'll steer you right every time. Of course, from a biblical perspective, Jeremiah 17 says that the heart is desperately wicked. our hearts are in rebellion to God. Sometimes listening to our hearts is the absolute wrong thing to do. And you don't even need the Bible for that. Is that not true in your own life? Like in fairy tale movies, it works out. But in our lives, behind most of the terrible decisions I've made in my life is my heart that told me I needed to spend money on that. I needed to say that I needed to enjoy that. The heart is not a great source of information, even if we just limit it to romantic relationships. Most of us experienced many failed relationships before, and if ever we found ourselves in one that works. I think the younger generation saying, maybe I don't always know what's best for me and is actually a step in the right direction. The caveat to that is that the answer isn't turning to a spreadsheet because the spreadsheet is still listening to you. Your brain is no less fickle than your heart. You'll cheat the information. You'll pick the categories that matter. As a result, you might end up finding that that relationship failed not because your heart led you astray, but because the data you chose to factor in does. The writer of the book of Proverbs says this, and I think this is so appropriate here in, Proverbs 3. 5. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Listen and lean not on your own understanding. Look, as Christians, if we are going to have a spreadsheet, it should be God's spreadsheet. You know, the Bible talks a lot about what godly men and godly women look like. It gives us a vision for, for what we ought to be looking for in a prospective spouse. Even more than that, it gives us a vision for who we should be becoming so that we can be godly husbands and wives. My point is, maybe the answer isn't listening to my heart or my brain, but actually sitting down and learning what God has said makes a great husband. Learning what God says makes a great wife, and then getting busy becoming that and getting busy looking for that. our hearts and brains often lead us astray, but God's leadership never will. So as Christians, let's not buy a spreadsheet for 9.99 and think some other guy has the secret to successful dating. But let's start to, realize listening to ourselves doesn't work, and let's instead begin listening to God. By the way, that's not limited to dating. We could make a spreadsheet for what God says about money, what he says about care. The point is, the writer of Proverbs is telling us there are two ways of living life. Your way and God's. Aren't we aware enough to say that my way hasn't worked? And if we are, is a spreadsheet the answer? Or is a total abandonment of the self and, looking to put someone else in charge a much better approach? That's exactly what the writer of Proverbs is calling us to. And that's exactly what I think is you should be engaging in if you're looking to begin dating. Hey, thanks for checking out Wake Up, Look Up. For more content, be sure to visit the Christ Community Chapel app or website cccchapel.com.

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