Your singleness is not for your sake

Back here I talked about 1 Corinthians 7 and Paul’s description of singleness as a gift.

He talks further about this at the end of the chapter

I would like you to be free from concern. An unmarried man is concerned about the Lord’s affairs – how he can please the Lord. But a married man is concerned about the affairs of this world – how he can please his wife – and his interests are divided. An unmarried woman or virgin is concerned about the Lord’s affairs: her aim is to be devoted to the Lord in both body and spirit. But a married women is concerned about the affairs of this world – how she can please her husband. I am saying this for your own good, not to restrict you, but that you may live in the right way in undivided devotion to the Lord. 1 Corinthians 7:32-35

Singleness is not a chance to make life all about us. God has given us singleness as a gift to serve him in ‘undivided devotion’. There’s nothing that will stop this from happening more than wallowing in self pity.

I understand that singleness is lonely – I get it. I also get that, while the truth is that singleness is a gift, it rarely feels like one. I pray and I hope that in those times of loneliness you would turn to God for satisfaction. I pray that God would bless you with wonderful and understanding friends.

BUT… I also pray that you don’t get so caught up in that loneliness that you forget the point of your singleness. It is not a gift for you. It’s a gift for the Lord and for the church. Like the spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians 12, it is given ‘for the common good’. My experience has been that once you realise that being single is a gift, and (whether you feel it or not) start exploiting it as a gift and serving God with it, you will get joy from it.

So my advice is to use your gift as it was intended – undivided devotion to your Lord.

Don’t wallow. Get up and serve!