Complete In Him

Complete in Him

Single Women

Read: 1 Corinthians 7:7-8, 34

Lindy grimaced as she looked over the flyer about her fifteenth high-school reunion. Should she go or skip it? It was just another chance for her to hear the dreaded questions, “Over thirty and still not married? What are you waiting for?” Lindy really despised it when people followed up their questions with some clever comment such as, “You’re not getting any younger, you know.” Very original. Oh well, she sighed, at least the form for the dance has a “stag or drag” box.

Single women during Bible times were pressured by society to marry and have a family. At a time when it was rare for women to have careers, their worth was tied up in their roles as wives and mothers. Paul’s letter to the believers at Corinth painted a different picture of singleness. He explained that without the demands that marriage places on a woman’s time, energy, and resources, it’s easier for her to be wholeheartedly devoted to God. She is free to focus on serving God without being distracted by the concerns of a husband and children.

While being a single woman now doesn’t carry the stigma that it used to in our society, many women still feel that they need a mate to complete them. Popular speaker and author Michelle McKinney Hammond encourages women to stop focusing on their marital status and learn to find joy in an intimate relationship with God. The fact that the animals boarded the ark two by two doesn’t mean that a single woman can’t enjoy a fulfilling life. Our happiness does depend on our being part of a couple—it comes from a one-on-one relationship with the Lover of our souls. Without that, nothing can complete us.

God gives to some the gift of marriage, and to others the gift of singleness.

1 Corinthians 7:7