The Gift of Being Single

I wish that all of you were as I am. But each of you has your own gift from God; one has this gift, another has that. Now to the unmarried and the widows I say: It is good for them to stay unmarried, as I do.

1 Corinthians 7:7-8

The single life, Paul says, is as much a gift and calling of God as is the married life. He says celibacy is a divinely approved status, and there is nothing wrong with it at all. In fact, Paul thinks so highly of it that he recommends it to everyone. He suggests they might all be like him. Some scholars feel that Paul was once married, although he certainly is not married at the time he wrote this letter, and probably had not been throughout his Christian experience. But some feel that Paul had been married and that this statement recommending single life for all is a case of sour grapes, like the old familiar saw, I never knew what happiness was until I got married — and then it was too late. But this seems doubtful. He is only indicating his approval of singleness as a perfectly acceptable and proper mode of life.

Single life is a calling from God; it is given to some to be single. God has so arranged life that for most people, as they grow into adulthood, marriage is the rule and single life is the exception. It is good that it is so, for the race would never have been propagated successfully had it been otherwise. Imagine the difficulties we would be confronted with if this were not the case.

There is a time during childhood when the two sexes are highly incompatible. They will hardly speak to one another. Boys gather with boys and girls with girls, and both groups look with mutual disdain upon each other. Suppose that condition were carried over into adult life. Imagine the shenanigans we would have to employ to get a couple together. What fringe benefits we would have to offer! But God solves the problem with the greatest of ease. An alarm clock goes off within the human system at a pre-appointed time of life, certain little glands pour out hormones, and the two sexes run into one another's arms. Wild horses cannot keep them apart!

But not all. There are some who remain uninterested or who are pushed out to the edges of the melee and end up not married. But Paul and the Lord Jesus, speaking by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, make it very clear that such individuals are not abnormal, they are not freaks. This is a designed area of life. God did not intend that all should get married; therefore, it is not failure or a mark of defeat to remain unmarried. It is a special calling of God.

Father, whether I am single or married, you desire to manifest your life and your love through me. Help me to embrace my gift and live it out to the fullest for your glory.