"... The bombshell Paul drops here is that marriage is not ultimately about the relationship between a man and a woman at all, but is about Christ's relationship to his church."
"For singles to live purposefully in their calling, God's meaning to singleness must be kept clearly in view. Knowing, then, that God intends the calling of singleness to communicate a message about his own superiority and sufficiency, and the love and devotion that the church should have towards him."
9 comments:
While the wedding ceremony symbolizes the forever commitment of love, marriage is meant to be temporary from day one -- there's no single or married in our next life, where there's only a collective congregation of worshippers praising the Lord and enjoying true fellowship with Him and one another.
Bless you to enjoy the times of both solitude and company.
Great article, wouldn't you agree?
Yes, a great article indeed.
Somehow you and I already know and understand what's been said in it, but you'd be amazed that someone could articulate it with such clarity.
Sometimes I think, what is the calling of singleness? Is it because a person cannot find his/her match or run out of options, then this is the calling of his/her singleness?
It is like the calling to be a minister or missionary. If someone is out of job for a long time, it may seem natural that they "change field" to serve God full time. But from what I've heard, many ministers and missionaries had stable jobs and bright future before they answered God's calling.
To me, the apostle Paul clearly has the calling to be single.
Being called is not the same as being forced.
I know.
From what I understand, when someone is called by God, that person is going to take part in God's plan, serving a purpose more than just to show others that God alone is sufficient (this reasoning may contradict God's Creation). So I think if a person is called to be single, God simply wants that person to serve Him as single (never-married or widowed).
Actually, the red flag in this article is "Singleness glorifies God by communicating the message that love and devotion to Christ is primary and eternal. It says to the watching world: God is enough. God is sufficient. God is better than anything, or anyone, else. God is worth all the pain of following him. This is the meaning of singleness. It is high calling."
But then, "The callings of singleness and marriage are both temporary, and may change through life, but a Christian’s identity will not. A woman’s calling may change from single to married, or from married back to single, but what will never change is her identity in Christ as God’s beloved child, heir to all the precious and great promises of God"
The response to God's calling being a choice is the model answer. But whether this choice is a choice with alternatives or a choice out of no choice could both be possible. There are cases and scenarios in the Bible that one didn't submit to God's calling until He closed all the doors, and so submitting to God's calling became the only choice. Jonah's story is a typical example.
So back to being single as a response to God's calling, it's all about submission, commitment, and how to live a life that glorifies God -- it's nothing greater or smaller than being married. It's similar any other calling from God.
It's like being married but having no kids. Some couples choose to have no kids, but some just could do nothing about it, so the next step is whether they'd choose to submit, commit, and live a more focused and purposeful life instead of a life of resentment.
ablogaday: I knew you would say that. =)
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