Not Just a Piece of Paper

If your divorce is not final, you should not begin a new relationship with a member of the opposite sex.

Dr. Jim A. Talley says, "There are thousands of people who are jumping into another relationship or moving in with somebody. The rationale is, 'Well, I can't afford to finalize my divorce now. It's only a piece of paper.' It's only a piece of paper? If you're driving down the road and the registration of the car you're in belongs to somebody else and you get stopped, it's only a piece of paper. But you go to jail for driving a stolen car. You should not go into another relationship until you have your final divorce decree in hand."

"The first date I went on," admits Marc, "frankly was a disaster. And that's just to put it mildly because I still felt married. I was in the separation mode at the time. I wasn't completely divorced, so I felt like I was cheating on my wife even though she was already doing that. I really felt funny. I wasn't ready for dating, and I shouldn't have been at that particular time in my life."

Choose to do what is right regardless of what your former spouse is doing, what others are doing, or what others are pressuring you to do. If you are pursuing a new relationship on your own, choose to do what is right because this is your life you are handling. A wrong decision about a new relationship can lead to even greater harm than the first relationship brought you.

"There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death" (Proverbs 14:12).