#1. Delighting in the LORD

Ok, ChristianMingle.com, this one's for you.   I’ve had just about enough of your advertising.  I feel like I should first apologize, because I really don't know you very well. But I do know that God does not give us everything that we want, any more than a parent gives his child everything she wants.  Our Heavenly Father knows what we really need, and He gives that in abundance.

“Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.”  -Psalm 37:4

I’m tired of hearing this verse used as an encouragement to the Christian single.  I don’t mean to undermine the joy of anyone who has experienced its effects in regard to their own relationships.  And I don’t mean to knock online dating for those who feel led by God to pursue it.  It’s a personal conviction, and it’s not appropriate for me to place my own convictions about dating on anyone else, just as it would be wrong for any other category—dancing, drinking, worship style, etc.

“Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.”  Absolutely.  But if you’re truly delighting in the Lord, then won’t the desire of your heart be HIM?  And that’s exactly what He will give you.  More of Himself.

Of course, that doesn’t mean we don’t have other desires as well, and that doesn’t mean that all of those desires are bad.  Our bodies want food; they need food to keep going.  But Jesus is also quick to remind us that “Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Deuteronomy 8:3, Matthew 4:4).

Marriage is a good thing.  God designed it, and a godly marriage absolutely glorifies Him.  But so does a godly single person.  I feel like there are so many messages, even from churches, that tell us as long as you’re single, your life is on hold somehow…so you should do the best you can until God’s match for you comes along, and THEN you can REALLY start living.

But we start living the moment we receive Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17).  Marriage might be the start of a new adventure, a new direction for two lives becoming one, but it’s not the start of life itself.  And for those of us who are single now, it doesn’t mean we’re “less alive.”

I’m exactly where God wants me to be right now, and I have exactly what He wants me to have.  So that’s how I’m going to live.  I don’t want to miss out on what He has for me to do today because I’m too busy thinking about tomorrow.

“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”  -Matthew 6:34

God will guide me tomorrow to what He wants me to do tomorrow.  For now, all I want is more of Him.