The Single Life

[00:00:03] Today's episode is entitled The Single Life. Well, let's talk a little bit today about some single women. We've talked a lot about housewives and whole makers and women who have families and husbands to deal with but we haven't talked enough about the single woman.

[00:00:48] I know that so it's about time that we did it. So today let's get ready. There are a lot of questions that single women ask, one of which is how do I find a husband?

[00:01:00] Boy, if I hear that question one side here that 100 times, in counseling, you'll have a lot of single women come in and they have all kinds of problems and all kinds of complaints and all kinds of difficulties to deal with.

[00:01:15] But when we get down to it that seems to be the problem beneath all the other problems for so many of them. And I know that's a real problem for many of you guys out there today.

[00:01:25] So let's talk a little bit about this matter of how do you find a husband? The Bible says seek and you shall find and I think that applies to a husband as well. Just do anything else. Yes, it does say seek and the right way.

[00:01:45] God's way in this matter and the right man for you. Now let's think about this a little bit. In Matthew 19 there's a critical passage on the question of this single life. If you remember in the first verses of that chapter down through verse 9 or 10, you have

[00:02:03] a discussion of marriage and divorce. And Jesus said that divorce could not be allowed. And then the disciples who heard that message from the Lord and were startled by it because some of the teaching in their day taught that you could divorce your wife for burning

[00:02:20] the toast or not turning the egg properly in the pan. But they were so amazed in verse 10. They said to him, if the relationship of the man with his wife is like this, it's better not to marry.

[00:02:34] In other words, they say, man if you're stuck with the same gal for life, you make a life commitment. That's a pretty serious business. Maybe better not to marry at all than to marry the wrong one and not be able to get out of it.

[00:02:50] Well, none of the apostles, by the way, ever lived up to that statement that they made that was just kind of a talk for the moment you see because it's very clear in these scriptures as the apostle Paul says at verse 5, but first Corinthians 9, do we not

[00:03:05] have the right to take along a believing wife even as the rest of the apostles and the brothers of the Lord and seefists? So we know later on that all the apostles got married. So they weren't able to stand by that comment that they made in this passage.

[00:03:23] But at this point, they're so startled that they begin to think about the possibility of staying single if they're going to be possibly let off on the wrong foot. I suppose there are some women as well as men who have that attitude, that boy, if

[00:03:39] I'm going to have to make a life commitment and I am a Christian according to the scriptures then it'd better be not to make any commitment at all than to make the wrong one.

[00:03:52] Well, if you make the right one prayerfully and you handle things guys way, you cannot make a wrong commitment. So let's not think of those terms along those lines but let's think first of all today

[00:04:06] and we'll go on in our next broadcast I deal with this matter a little bit more fully and whether or not you ought to be married. But for the time being that's the first question that every single person needs to face

[00:04:18] and in this Matthew 19 passage, the Lord Jesus went on to say in verses 11 and 12 these words not all people can accept the statement that is it's better not to marry. But only those to whom it has been given.

[00:04:35] In other words, it's not possible for everybody to live a celibate life or a single life. It's not desirable for all people to live that life. In fact, the rule is to get married according to Genesis 2 it is not good for the man to be alone.

[00:04:55] So here we're talking about the exception to the rule that for most people it is not good to be alone and for most people marriage is the answer is absolutely certain from the book of Genesis but there are some who cannot accept that statement Jesus said that it

[00:05:16] is better not to marry and he says that they are the people to whom the single life has been given. That his God gives them a special gift to live as singles. This is something that has not been said very often in the scriptures but the scriptures

[00:05:36] and preaching and so on. He had it's very clearly here and it's also in 1 Corinthians 7 7 where Paul says that some are given the gift of being single and some are given the gift of being married.

[00:05:51] And so this is something that is determined by God, a gift from God and you're going to have to decide which gift he has given to you. So before you start looking for a husband or before you start looking for a wife if it

[00:06:06] happens to be a man listening in today make it clear to yourself that there are some people who are singled out by God who might say for the single life and you thought to ask yourself before you go any further where you are one of those persons.

[00:06:22] Now let's listen to see what he says about those who are singled out for the single life why they are singled out why this gift has been given to them by God. Those 12 says there are unix who were born that way from their mother's womb.

[00:06:39] That is they were naturally unix and there are unix who were made unix by men. They were castrated, unnaturally made unix. There are also unix who made themselves unix for the sake of the kingdom of heaven.

[00:06:56] He who is able to accept this let him accept it and these the third category are super naturally unix. That is God gives certain people the gift of the single life for the sake of the kingdom of heaven.

[00:07:12] In some way, at some times in some places God puts his hand on some people and he brings them to the satisfaction of fulfillment, the joys and the possibilities of serving him with

[00:07:25] such fullness that this person can find all that he needs in life and the service of the Lord. And really does not need the intimacy and the comfort and all the rest that others need in marriage.

[00:07:39] Now that's not for most of us but for some God gives that gift. He singles out these people and so immerses them in his service and in his work that they find their satisfaction there and they find them completely with joy in serving

[00:07:58] him and the service of the kingdom of heaven. One of the tragedies is that so many single girls go spend their lives making money on careers that are outside of the work of Jesus Christ in his church.

[00:08:11] That is saying that if God has singled you out, it has singled you out for the single life so that you may serve Him in a peculiar and special way. You ought to find your activities, your efforts and your time taken up by the Lord's work.

[00:08:29] You ought to find yourself immersed in doing something for the kingdom of heaven. And secondly it says, He who is able to accept this let them accept it. When God gives that gift to a person, he had better not sit around and feel sorry for

[00:08:46] himself or she had better not join the pity parties held by the other single girls down at the office. She instead ought to rejoice in it, accept it, reckon with the fact and pour yourself

[00:09:00] into being all that she possibly can or all that he possibly can for Jesus Christ in his work. And you know, it's interesting that the person who does get involved as a single person

[00:09:14] in the work of the Lord and who does pour herself into that work thinking that perhaps she has the gift of the single life is the one who throws herself into contact with the best Christian men and becomes the kind of person who is most attracted to Christian

[00:09:32] men by becoming so deeply involved, cheerfully in the Lord's work. And so she is likely to find a husband there and through that more than any other way. So Lord helps single people to think about the possibility of the single life of Christ

[00:09:48] and the same thing that I think is a great thing. I hope this helps those of you who are struggling with the same question whether to be married or single don't make a mistake and jump into something just because everybody else is doing

[00:10:00] it and you feel left behind, you've got mothers and aunts and grandparents saying to you, when you're going to find a man or when you're going to find a woman, when you're going to get married, when you're going to have kids don't be pressured.

[00:10:14] I'm glad that you're here to talk about it from God's point of view. It's a gift that you're single and if he decides to give you that gift, he's effectively and correctly. Have a great day and be blessed.