Wednesday, June 14, 2017

The Beauty in Singleness

Marriage is a good thing. I would never deny that. Singleness can also be a good thing. Many would deny that.

I can testify that for a life lived in Christ, there is an untouched beauty in singleness. The core and embodiment of all your affection, your love, your emotions, your joy, your hopes, your future, your time, your mind, and your very heart, is the very person of the living Lord Jesus Christ. 

He is my everything, my absolute, my all-in-all. He is my friend, my companion, my comforter, my strong tower, my defender, my security, my go-to person, my listening ear, my One whom will never leave me nor forsake me. When I am weak, He is strong. When I fall, He picks me up. When I laugh, His joy flows around me. When I cry, His comfort surrounds and soothes me. When I am scared, He fills me with His peace that passes all human understanding. When I make a mistake, He doesn't look down on me and make me feel stupid, but He lovingly forgives me and raises me up our of a place of shame. When I do something that deserves punishment, He shows me mercy. He shows me grace over and over and over again. When He chastises me, He does it so endearingly that I don't even recognize it as a chastisement until after the pain has passed and I am enveloped in His love. He cares for me. He provides for me. He fulfills me. He makes me content. He exhorts, challenges, inspires, and encourages me constantly. What cuts my heart the most is that I know He loves me...unconditionally, even though I am the least deserving to receive such rich love as this. He holds an untouchable place in my heart of being my first love.

"There is a difference between a wife and a virgin. The unmarried woman cares about the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit. But she who is married cares about the things of the world--how she may please her husband." -1 Corinthians 7:34

Oh, my dear sisters in Christ who long for marriage more than you do for Christ, there is so much love awaiting you, right at your fingertips, if you would just see and partake of the Lord's love for you, you would be full, even overflowing, with the purest and happiest love this world has to offer! Oh, how singleness is a beautiful season of life when your heart can be undistractedly the Lord's. The Lord said that there is a season for everything, a time for every purpose, and that "He has made everything beautiful in its time." Marriage will come, and that will have an untouched beauty of its own, but please don't miss out on the beauty of singleness while you wait for marriage. I believe that if, while you are unmarried, you care singularly about the things of the Lord, keeping both your body and spirit pure and holy for the Lord, it will be for your own joy, delight, peace, contentment, and quality of life. What a wonderful Father and protector He is to His daughters, and with what deep love does He care for us!


“To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven...He has made everything beautiful in its time."  -Ecclesiastes 3:1, 11

There is nothing shameful in being single. You belong to the Lord - He bought you at a high price, which means you are very precious to Him. He cares for you, He loves you, and He cherishes you more than you will ever comprehend, so if He is keeping you for Himself for now...trust Him...and enjoy this gift of being singularly His right now. Have you ever considered that He might desire to use your season of singleness for the furtherance of the Gospel, His glory, your happiness, and the building up of His beloved Church whom He laid down His life for? I don't know much about why the Lord does the things He does, but this I do know - He is more than trustworthy - and I utterly trust Him, and I know that you can trust Him, too, and be free to be happy in Him during this season of singleness.


"Many crowd the Savior's Kingdom,
Few receive His Cross,
Many seek His consolation,
Few will suffer loss
For the dear sake of the Master,
Counting all but dross.

"Many sit at Jesus' table,
Few will fast with Him
When the sorrow-cup of anguish
Trembles to the brim,
Few watch with Him in the garden
Who have sung the hymn.

"Many will confess His wisdom.
Few embrace His shame,
Many, should He smile upon them,
Will His praise proclaim;
Then, if for a while He leave them,
They desert His Name.

"But the souls who love Him truly
In woe or in sweet bliss,
These will count their truest heart's blood
Not their own, but His;
Savior, Thou Who thus hast loved me,
Give me love like this."

-Amy Carmichael