Singleness is a gift. Don’t waste it!

Being single is not being in a limbo until one gets married. Actually, being married is being in a limbo until one becomes unmarried. What I mean is that in our permanent state, we will not be married. That is, in heaven, we will no longer be married. Well, I take it back. We will be married to God, but we won’t be married to one man or one woman like many of us are here on earth.

Even if one marries later on, the period of singleness is a gift that we ought to use for God. But our culture, even our church culture thinks exactly the opposite. It goes like this: Being married is when we settle down and get serious about life. And therefore, while we are single, we ought to play and enjoy ourselves. We can serve God later after we’ve had our fun…

The Apostle Paul makes exactly the opposite argument. He says that being single affords us freedom that we will not have otherwise. For the purpose of serving God, it is actually better if we are single!

“The unmarried man (woman) is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to please the Lord. But the married man (woman) is anxious about worldly things, how to please his wife (her husband), and his (her) interests are divided.” 1 Cor. 7:33-34

So much for the churches that require their pastors to be married. Jesus and Paul would’ve never qualified to pastor those churches!

But practically, I know those verses to be true. Whenever there is a ministry opportunity, I have to check with Janet to see if there is anything going on with my family at the same time – such as kids’ games or concert, etc. When I was a single pastor, I never had to. I could stay at church as long as I wanted to without any other care in the world!

You will have plenty of time to play when you die. Things will get far more complicated if (or when) you get married. If you are single, you have a gift! It’s called time! And it is the most precious commodity that you can use for God, for when you run out of it, you are dead…

PH