Single, lonely people might be more likely to pay attention when they're taught that God has a plan for their lives, and that his plan includes setting them up with the "perfect partner." I'm not arguing with that perspective; whether we're single or married, as believers we need to listen to God's will ... just as we all need to follow his commandments.
But if we're single, with no bright prospects shining at the horizon, we might be eager to drone daily (or hourly) prayers asking God to address our singleness shortcoming, hoping to wake up one fine morning to discover that the Almighty, the Creator of the universe, has rewarded our prayerful neediness and emotional urgency by dropping the perfect mate into our lives ... with little or no effort required on our part.
Until then, because God is so busy staying on top of all the troubles and sinfulness in the world, we don't at all mind helping him out a little bit when it comes to finding us that perfect spouse ... and don't feel inconvenienced taking time to speed things up by specifying blue or brown eyes, blonde or dark hair, a certain background or lineage, a range of heights and a margin of weights or physical types ... oh, and a certain income range and lifetime earning potential fits nicely within our "spec" list, too.
So why is God having such a hard time getting things right?
After all, we tell ourselves, doesn't God want us to have the very best? Aren't we therefore entitled to a mate who's super-attractive, smart, witty and filthy rich? Don't we feel we're entitled to all those things simply because we're special? Shouldn't God be eager to move life along and provide us with that perfect someone ... the magic person whose mere appearance will fix everything, soothe our lonely wounds and make us feel as special as we're convinced that we already are?
God I'm tired of playing games, so just give it to me.
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That was an illustration.
The point is that if we're single, could be that because we trust God's will and divine purpose, we don't mind at all asking God to drop the perfect mate into our path. In fact, we actually want God to make such an encounter unavoidable. We're eager to focus on that one thing and to believe God's gonna solve our "mate-lessness" because, so far as we can see, being single is a priority problem #1.
Funny that we're willing to pray for our perfect expectations to be met ... and that we'll trust God's will and divine purpose when it comes to delivering a perfect husband or wife to us, but let's stop talking about self-made goals of blissful marriage and perfect partners for the moment. If we accept God's will and purpose in every aspect of our lives, then let's talk about the other people God places in our paths ... whether we're single or married ... the people we tend to overlook because their presence in our lives isn't something we spent time praying and wishing would finally happen.
How are we supposed to treat those other people? Should we look forward to treating the strangers we meet in our day to day lives as part of God's perfect purpose and divine plan, in the same way we anxiously expect to meet that perfect God-given mate? Or do we treat everyone else, the people who fail to meet our expectations, as nuisances, disappointments, obstacles and annoyances ... dead-ends who serve no other purpose but to irritate, disgust and perplex us?
What if some of those other people are lost and don't know Christ? What if God put some of those people in our path both before ... and after ... we meet that perfect mate? Or does God's perfect plan just work one way?
"Lord, this doesn't have to be so complicated and besides, I'm not very good at sharing my faith. Just give me what I want so I can be fulfilled in every way and start being happy for the rest of my life. Amen."
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Christ commanded us,
" 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."
- Matthew 22:37-40
He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'
- Matthew 25:45
Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it.
- Hebrews 13:2
