There is an indent in my left ring finger, right where a wedding band could someday lie, and in it lays a silver band, engraved with the scrolling words, “True Love Waits.” An “attractive” tan line becomes visible if the ring is removed, and for that reason and because I am notorious for losing anything that is not on my person, the ring never leaves my finger.
I received the ring after I made a commitment that many Christian girls make.
I committed to waiting for the right guy. Prince Charming. I vowed to wait for my soul mate and the one that God specifically chose for me, before giving my whole self to anyone in body, mind, and spirit.
I took a vow before the Lord, saying that I would wait for Him to bring that specific man before I lost my purity. Lost.
That is a scary thought when your identity is in that purity. Who am I when that is gone?
I, like other girls, viewed purity as something I would someday lose. I thought of purity as something temporary and something that I would check at the altar on my wedding day.
I am not the only girl who has had that thought. It has driven others to take off their once prized rings and tuck them away and it breaks my heart to know that it has caused others to regret their decision to wait, altogether.
We are falling into a series of lies about why “True Love Waits.” We are finding identity in purity and true love, rather than in the one who has promised to make us whiter than snow, holy and blameless in His sight because of His unending and divine love.
We band together and we wait. We pin pictures of wedding dresses and venues, flowers and diamond rings onto our Pinterest boards, strategically between bible verses and prayers about our future husbands. We dream. We wait until prince charming swoops in and makes our pins a reality.
We are loving God as a means to an end. We are loving him so that he will provide our husbands.
But we know this doesn’t happen. We see our friends or older girls, adults, experience heartache after waiting and preparing and waiting and preparing and waiting and preparing… We KNOW that God may never bring a man to them.
We choose to wait for our future husband and place our hope in his existence and potential love, rather than waiting on the Lord, who is, and always has been, present and waiting for us with open arms.
The ring remains. True Love Waits.
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So yes, I wear the typical “True Love Waits” purity ring. When I first began to wear it, I was waiting for God to bring me “the one”. Then I realized that
the one I want is God.
So yes, true love waits because “love is patient” and our purest form of love belongs to the Lord.
My true love for God has compelled me to wait on Him.
Waiting on the Lord is having complete trust in Him, no matter the circumstances. If his love is enough for us, we can look to him with absolute dependence. I wait for God’s plan revealed in my life, whatever that may be.
If marriage is in my future, sure, I’ll wait for all that entails too…but I’m not waiting because I want the perfect guy. I’ll wait because my love for the Lord has compelled me to follow his commandments.
