Are you single? Should you date? What does our culture expect of single people?
What our culture expects of single people
Our culture encourages single people to date and to get married. Most secular songs and movies deal with romantic subjects, and very few deal with being and remaining single. Is the Great Commission for singles to go into all the world and make marriages? That is what the world expects, but God has a different purpose for single people. God will help you overcome heartache by His grace. HIs gift of salvation and union with Him will see you through.
Wrong ways to use your singleness
Singleness offers more free time, and a person can make right and wrong choices on how to use the time. Being single offers many opportunities for sin. Are you single but married to your stuff and your false idols? How are you spending your free time? How much of your free time is God getting? Are you binge-watching tv? Spending more of your time thanking God for His forgiveness will bring you greater purpose and joy than any of these things. There is always hope for you.
The problem of loneliness is depression over not having human interaction.
It is healthy for us to socialize, so if you are single, make an effort to not be alone. Loneliness lead to stress and anxiety. Are you more likely to sin when you are alone? Don’t escape loneliness and depression with lesser and sinful activities. Pornography promotes the sin of lust, and it has power over lonely people. Sex outside of marriage is emotionally destructive and it dilutes your satisfaction in your later marriage. People, especially females, have been turned into objects for visual entertainment, and they are a fake image of the real person. This is not right behavior for single people nor anyone, and ideally our body should be private until marriage when we give it to our spouse.
Use your singleness for God
The Bible says singleness is a gift, and single people are valuable to the Church. The Bible also says if you are burning with passion, it is better to get married than to sin.
Single people have more free time and the opportunity to focus on God. If single, be anxious for the things of God. Don’t be obsessed with dating and marriage like the world. Don’t long for what others have. Jesus will complete us, not our mate nor anything else. What if you throw away tv for a year and read your whole Bible? Focus on and run after Jesus, and let God use you. See if others are running with you; your future mate may be one of those running after Jesus with you. No lesser things can satisfy us like Jesus. A single person should not be lonely and singleness should not be a time for sin to flourish. First socialize with God in prayer and Bible study, serve God with other members of the Church, and also spend time with friends. Use your time wisely and purposefully.
Married people
People who are married or in a romantic relationship split their focus between their mate and God. Married people have less free time and less time to give to God. Most married people are so overwhelmed with marriage, kids, work and life that it is a struggle for them to give time to God. Serve and love God first, secondly serve and love your spouse, and thirdly everything else. Some marriages are not healthy. If you are married and lonely, living as a single person in the same house as the person you call your spouse, a priority for you is to work on your marriage to get it right. Living single in a marriage offers many opportunities for sin.
