There’s More to Life than Marriage

Watch out, single people; we’re in wedding season. And you know exactly what that means. You’ll be at weddings, you’ll be feeling the urgency, and you’ll be hit with the questions that come rapid fire around this time every year. In fact, the whole “when are you getting married?” thing has become its own real-life meme of Christian culture.

But for Brianna DeWitt, the summer season’s obsession with the “right way” to do marriage has caused us to lose sight of the much more important aspects of living a Christ-honoring life. In a trending article on Relevant, she asks if we’re missing God’s call:

“Our highest calling as Christians can be simplified to loving God and loving our neighbor. There are many facets to this, including serving, generosity, compassion and ultimately making disciples—but all of these are built on loving God and neighbor.

“During wedding season, though—and especially among the debates over the “proper” age to get married—it is easy for this ultimate Christian call to get lost.”

DeWitt wants us to remember that while marriage is a beautiful thing, so is singleness. We Christians can serve God and answer our call no matter what may or may not be on our ring finger:

“Every age and life stage brings its own blessings and difficulties, no matter our relationship status—and along with the blessings and difficulties come multitudes of ways of loving God and our neighbor. This may mean serving as a missionary abroad, working at a coffee shop in Portland or doing taxes in Colorado Springs. These—and hundreds of other ways of loving and serving God and others—can be done whether we are married or not, and at whatever age that marriage may occur.”

In a recent video, author Lina Abujamra sat down with CrossWalk.com to talk about thriving as a single in the church. But many of these lessons apply to married viewers as well:

Crosswalk.com: How Can I Thrive as a Single? - Lina Abujamra from crosswalkcom on GodTube.

What are your thoughts? Do you think we Christians place too much emphasis on needing to be married to serve God? How do you handle singleness?

John UpChurch is the senior editor of BibleStudyTools.com and Jesus.org. You’ll usually find him downing coffee at his standing desk (like a boss).