TUESDAY - 21ST JANUARY, 2025
MORNING WINGS DAILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE - Olusola ADEJUMO
ARE YOU SINGLE? - Fitted For A Manner Of Life Series 008
I Corinthians 7:32-33, KJV
"32 But I would have you without carefulness. He that is unmarried careth for the things that belong to the Lord, how he may please the Lord: 33 But he that is married careth for the things that are of the world, how he may please his wife."
"Singles mourn to marry and the married mourns to divorce" is the quote I once came across on the net. Why would the married yearn for separation? It's because marriage is not without its own problems. Human relationship is one of the complicated systems that we have to keep understanding and seek to manage. Without coming to manage it properly, though divorce is not permitted but two that once was one might become two again (at separation).
But for the singles, they are blinded by the joys of marriage and are held in hope. They don't usually see the struggles that be in two trying to be one or remain as one. Though not a command but a concession, Paul talks of "this present distress" for which it is good for a person to remain unmarried (I Cor.7:25-26).
Are you single? Like Paul says, I have no command from the Lord for you not to marry especially if you don't fit into any of the three categories of eunuchs we had seen. You should therefore marry except by choice and reasons best known by you. Marriage is good and it should not be demonized. Paul admonishes the married to stick to themselves (I Cor. 7:27).
Meanwhile, being a single comes with its own blessings. Like a fish caught in an evil net is taken out of its natural habitat, once marriage takes you out of singlehood (which naturally avails you time for yourself and celibacy since we believe you've not been fornicating), you are bound to a spouse and you must seek to please him or her. Whether you're a man or a woman, once married, you're vulnerable to having divided attention. If you look at our verses for the day, it says, "32...the unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to please the Lord. 33 But the married man is anxious about worldly things, how to please his wife 34 and his interest are divided. And the unmarried or betrothed woman is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to be holy in body and spirit. But the married woman is anxious about worldly things, how to please her husband" (ESV).
Did you read that? I intentionally requotes everything in plain words for you to grab. Before I got married, I would study and listen to sermons all day long and at my spare time. Not again! I have someone to share part of my time with now. And if you have some children with that, the more dissipating and inadequate your time looks in your hands. I could recall while I was on campus, apart from school and fellowship, the only thing I do with my time is communion with God. I did it until while listening to sermons one day, I got anointed with God's Spirit and was impacted with the teaching anointing and all other manifestations on the fellow I was listening to. To have been impacted through sermons means I did that act for thousands of time and for an enough time to have possessed the same acts in the man I was looking at. He preaches and teaches very good and for long and I also do the same. He authors a devotional and I also authors a devotional. He destroys yokes by God's anointing on him and I do same. To have received the gift of the Holy Spirit through listening to sermons means giving it time and fellowship. I loved the man of God and cherished all his teachings. At that time, I could quote him and his sermons very much.
I still do listen to sermons and my wife and family know me for that but not without hindrances now. While I was still single and having no one in my life, I would listen to sermons, fall asleep, wake up to find the sermon still playing. Now, I share the bed with my wife. I can't do that. Even when I'm playing a sermon or the kind of music that stirs my anointing, you might hear something like, "I want to sleep." It's a prompt that you either stop it or use earpiece and when you use earpiece, you still cannot be committed to the listening because you want to be alert to any alarm. Even when you think of going to another room, it doesn't always work. You'll hear, "let's sleep now! Isn't it bed time?" When your wife is telling you, "let's sleep", I hope you know what that means. It means, "I need your companionship and probably the other one too." So, marriage is a journey of inconvenience and sacrifice for your mate. If you're not ready, don't take it.
That's why that place reads and says, "the unmarried has time to please the Lord and for things that concerns the Lord than the married." The Bible acknowledges that the unmarried has more time because he's not tied or bound to be obligated to anyone.
So, once you leave singlehood (bachelorhood or spinsterhood) to marriage, your attention is shared between two entities (God and your spouse). It's a great fight. If you're weak-willed, you might sacrifice intimacy with God for fellowship with your spouse (that man or woman).
For this reason, some might vow themselves to God. If there's a Queen of England who didn't marry till her death just for state matters, who told you if you perceive the call to exceptionally serve God you cannot be a eunuch for the kingdom of heaven - serving His will. There are places to take the gospel to that having a family or those you're emotionally attached to won't do. Such land is the land of "if I die, I die". The demand on some people is to enter a difficult terrain and break it with committedness that comes from not being attached to anything or anyone. God might find one or two like that. However, if you hope for marriage, let your single or celibate life counts now. I thank God I got all the ingredients for my race before I even got engaged. I got anointed and started preaching dangerously and fierily as a student. I was in Level 3 readying for 4 when I got anointed. It's still that same anointing I've built on and I'm building on now. Your singlehood can be lost but you can make it count if you gather food for your winter in that summer. Please, be like the ants. Eat doubly because the journey is long and the days are now seriously evil.
PRAYER: My bachelorhood or spinsterhood shall not come to nothing. I have an understanding of what to gather in it.
1 YEAR BIBLE READING PLAN
Matthew 14:13-36 & Genesis 49-50
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