The Art of Being Single

 

Yesterday, I read a devotion from my newest YouVersion plan on being Single.  

Read that again - being SINGLE.

I've switched up my last few reading plans to focusing on relationships and being single.  So many of us are focused on relationships and getting married or being married and keeping that relationship pure and healthy.

But since I am SINGLE, I decided to embrace it and see what God has to say about it.

Well, I haven't found any surprises and, in fact, I am finding that all my teachings from my days in the "Singles Group" at my home church in the 90s are flooding back into memory.  Instead of picking and choosing from the devotion I read, I am just going to share it in its entirety.  If you want the link to plan, message me and I will forward it over to you.  (It's a short plan and each day is full of wisdom like this.)

While I do struggle with relationships (I'm not the best at them) and being single, I do want to grasp what Scripture says about being single.  I want to embrace the principles God lays out for us because I know they are best.

Maybe I'll share other feelings another time, but for this morning, here is the devotion I read yesterday.  I hope it impacts my Single readers and friends as much as it did me!  Enjoy!

The Gift of Freedom

Being single means you have two important things: freedom and time. Believe me when I say that these are resources that will diminish over time! The single person has more freedom and more time right now than anyone else on the planet. Children don’t have this kind of freedom. Old people don’t share this level of freedom. Nor do married people. You have an unprecedented amount of discretionary time in this season you are in right now. The question for you to consider today is what you will do with this freedom and time.

In Colossians 1:9–12, Paul instructs his readers to live their lives in such as way they please the Lord, bear fruit, grow in their knowledge of him, learn to lean on his power, and joyfully give thanks to him. He instructs them to use their freedom and their time for a purpose—participating in the work of God to build his kingdom on the earth. He doesn’t want them to use their freedom and time in pursuit of worldly distractions but to stay focused on the greater story of making their lives count for God’s work.

Your season of singleness is an amazing opportunity to dig in and freely experience doing life with God. I know it’s difficult to be in a time of waiting and not have what you desire. It is okay to long to be in a relationship and long to be married. That longing is good. In fact, we see in the book of Genesis that this ache for companionship existed in Adam before the entrance of sin. But I want to challenge you to not let that desire steal all the joy from your present state. I want you to receive all the benefits available to you in this season of life right now.

Remember that God has ordained this season of singleness, and he wants you to live it to the hilt. As Paul said in 1 Corinthians 7:32, your singleness is a time to be “concerned about the Lord’s affairs—how [you] can please the Lord” (NIV). If this does not define your singleness, it means you are doing your singleness wrong! Your purpose is to pursue him. If you are not spending these unmarried moments of your life in passionate pursuit of your Maker, they will be marked by aimlessness and frustration. Conversely, the most content single people I have ever known are the ones who understood this season is for undistracted devotion to the Lord.

So today, right where you are, seek to maximize the freedom and the time that you have. You may not be in vocational ministry, but you know the pain and awkwardness of being young, so invest your time in the next generation. You may not be trained in evangelism, but you see people every day who are struggling and need to know your Jesus, so listen for who God puts on your heart. Is it that co-worker in the cube next to you? The elderly woman you see all the time at the store? Is it that homeless man who needs someone to take time to listen?

Dream big for God. Ask him to show you where to serve in this time of singleness. Then take advantage of those opportunities and see the results that God will bring."