God works out our faith in our state of singleness as well as in our state of union within marriage. We're never perfect in our singleness, so we're never perfect ("ready" or "prepared") for marriage. We are continually being prepared all our lives to serve God where ever we are in our faith. He grows us from faith to faith so that He can go from glory to glory (so that His glory can become even more apparent as evidenced in our lives of faithfulness. The more we walk out our faith, the more glorious He becomes).

I Corinthians 7:32-35 are verses I've shared with my children through the years, beginning when they are quite young. This is how I've interpreted these verses (though I've been know to be wrong a time or two;), so please, correct me if I'm wrong).

When you are in your youth (i.e. unmarried, which by the way doesn't denote specific age), that's the time to develop an intimate, personal and mature relationship with God through Jesus. We're able to wholly and fully focus on Him because we shouldn't have the distractions/interests/cares of another "significant other". As we develop our relationship with Him, spending time with Him in prayer, in His Word and just hanging out with Him all day and night, we ourselves are changing and being prepared to be given more fully to others. We are becoming less focused on ourself (dying to self) so that we can serve Him (by serving others). That is maturity in Christ. Maturity then isn't an age, it's the ability to get outside ourselves knowing that He has a higher calling. Part of that calling can be marriage.

One of the sins so many of us have are the restrictions we place on God. Remember, He likes to use foolish things to shame the wise (I Cor. 1:27). To say things like, "I'm not old enough", "I need to finish college", "I don't have enough money", "I want to experience ______", etc., puts faith in yourself and the worlds way of thinking. You didn't learn, you didn't mature in your youth enough to trust and have faith in Gods ability to continue to grow you up with another person regardless of whether it makes sense to you or others.

I believe Christian marriages fail because single people spent so little time hanging out with God in their youth. Most of their time was spent with fools (Prov. 13:20). The sad part is, parents expect and even encourage it.

So the sin, I believe, is in the lack of preparation through an ability to have a mature relationship with others through the foundational relationship with Christ that had been fostered in youth. Not everyone is called to be married, but everyone should be called to a mature relationship in Christ. The lack of it going into a marriage is the sin.

This hit hard when TLC preached it!
YES I agree. When single you have the opportunity to do ministry that you may not be able to participate in once married. Driscoll has written some great stuff on using your singleness to grow and to glorify the Lord. But when God BLESSES you with someone whom He desires you to marry... MARRY THAT PERSON!

Marriage is a fantastic avenue for worship. You can worship the Lord with how you SERVE your spouse. Be an Eph. 5 man! So once that door is opened for you, that is a new way in which you can worship, and you SHOULD!

Solid BCooP!

This hit hard when TLC preached it!
YES I agree. When single you have the opportunity to do ministry that you may not be able to participate in once married. Driscoll has written some great stuff on using your singleness to grow and to glorify the Lord. But when God BLESSES you with someone whom He desires you to marry... MARRY THAT PERSON!

Marriage is a fantastic avenue for worship. You can worship the Lord with how you SERVE your spouse. Be an Eph. 5 man! So once that door is opened for you, that is a new way in which you can worship, and you SHOULD!

Solid BCooP!

Very true, I think.. Well I know God loves to see people get married and live out their lives the right way. I think this more touches on NOT wasting your time on pointless relationships that are going to go no where. If you think about it, there are two options in EVERY man-woman relationship.. Your either going to break up or get married. If you couldnt imagine marrying that person then should you be with them? Over all I agree

Anything we do that has the potential to steal glory from God is a sin, whether it is singleness OR marriage...if God's name receives more "cumulative" glory from two individuals being married rather than they be separate, then let's begin the nuptials!

"True Story"

I think if we wait until it's a sin for anything, we are flirting with temptation already and we are setting ourselves up for failure. The decision for marriage should never be based on just sexual motivation, but by seeking God's will for your life and praying about the person you will be spending the rest of your life with.

Love it.. 1st corinthians.... paul was right... we only have a short while to use our singleness to glorify God. Once we get married we have to share our time with our spouse, but until then Go wants us to use our single lifestyle to live in community with other believers, to delve into the word with passion, and to pour into others as we are being poured into... life is not a guarantee and the only thing we have to decide is what tto do with the time that is given to us. Single ministry (for most) has a timeline... make the most of it!

Still a little confused on how it would be a sin to not be married....help me out!

I think what Coop is saying is that if we know that we can glorify God more with our lives by marrying a Godly man/woman, then it is a sin to stay single. If we know we would bring more glory to God if we were to marry that "someone" then that is sin to not get married. Right Coop???

That's what im thinking Petey P

I disagree. I understand where it's coming from, but it's more than not commiting sin. God has filled us with sexual drive, but that is something to be shared within marriage. The honeymoon is set to unify a couple, to become one flesh. If you are getting married to ensure you do not sin, how is that a healthy marriage? So many details go into why people get married, but that should not be the driving force.

Im not sure the quote is talking specifically about 'sexual drive'... I have read it to mean that you remain single and leverage that gift/tool from God AND IF He desires you to be married He will make it so clear that to deny His direction would be disobedience... thus "a sin".... does that crystalize it a bit more?