JDL - Direction Twelve - Singles, Unmarried, Widowed, Divorced

You shall not commit adultery (The Sixth Commandment)

God gives us each to live according to His good will and pleasure. Certainly, according to our human nature, we are unable in and of ourselves to live this way, the way He would have us to live. However, that does not discount the fact that He has given us each roles and boundaries.

God calls us. He calls us to faith. He does this through His Word, the Bible, and through His sacraments, Holy Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. God also calls us to our vocation, that is He calls us to work. Our work is a call from Him so that we do our work, not for a boss or a company, but we work as if we are working for Jesus. God calls us each to the place where we are in our lives. We have talked about the “vocation” of being a husband or a wife or a father, but what about the vocation of being single, either because one has never married or because one is widowed or divorced? What about God’s calling to singles?

The Apostle Paul, thinking that the end of the world was near and knowing that a lot of work needed to be done, believed and the best way to get that work done was to not be hampered by the struggles and work that families bring; therefore, he encouraged young people to not get married. He understood that a single person would have less responsibility (or distraction) by way of family life and would be able to spend more time in doing the work which needed to be done for Christ and the Church.

Think about life in this way: life on this earth is short, a hundred years or so, compared to eternity which is forever. Thus, the most important thing in this life is getting ready for our real life in heaven. With that said, we understand that a hundred years is a long time on this earth, and there are a lot of people to meet and to share the Gospel. As a single person, the onus is not completely on you, nor is the onus off you. As a single person, God’s will for you is still His good and perfect will. God still has boundaries for you in order to keep you safe.

The world, the culture, our society says to be free to explore. Be sexually active. After all, that is our nature. Unfortunately, our society believes the theory of evolution which means that we are just animals anyway, so why not act like animals. As that sexual revolution has progressed, we can see the results, such as the rise in sexually transmitted diseases, the rise in broken marriages, and the rise in emotional difficulties among people.

Leading a chaste and decent life is not meant to be a burden but is meant as a way to keep us safe, to give us order, and to give us peace. What a great witness a single person can make when, with the help of the Lord, s/he lives a chaste and decent life in word and deed. Leading a chaste and decent life means, with God’s help, staying away from people, places, and situations that are not God-pleasing. What greater compliment might one receive than that someone will refrain from telling a certain joke or relating a certain story because of someone’s presence.

God has gifts, abilities, callings, and roles for each Christian, for those married or single, for adult and child. A Jesus-directed life is one which recognizes the role one is in, the boundaries of that role, as well as the opportunities that role provides. Thus, with the Lord’s help and through prayer and His Word, one is prepared to live the way He would have s/he to live.

Think About
When exercising your freedom, does it impinge on the freedom of others? If it does, then you have overstepped your boundary and have taken away another’s freedom.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, thank You for the freedoms You have given to me. Forgive me when I use my freedoms in such a way as to stifle the freedom of someone else. Help me to use my freedoms in such a way that others may see You and give glory to You. For Jesus’ sake. Amen.