but what is MY role?

I tip-toe stretch against the glass display and throw my voice over the lunchtime din: flatbread, pepperjack, toasted, everything but cucumbers, with oregano please! It's gonna be my own special bundle of sandwich bliss. I'm drooling.

And I'm pretty used to personalizing things like this. Have it your way!..You asked for it? we delivered!...Full customization!!!...We live in a buffet style, pick and choose culture. It's all around us. We expect nothing less.

But singles can carry this mindset into Scripture. We open our Bibles and are sorely disappointed to find no customized road map. We hit passage after passage tailored to wives and husbands and parents, but us? Not so much. So, because there's no First and Second Song of Singleness, I guess we're left to muck about in sub-par existence until we're launched into the upper echelons of instruction on marital and parental bliss. 

oh well...sigh...(empty pause)...

OR, could it be that in our search for tiny shreds of customized truth, we've forgotten the instruction we already have? Instruction that, if applied, would bring the satisfaction and focus to our single lives we so long for? This line of thought has me captivated. Here's a bit of what I'm learning...

1. I have a role in Christ

I'm His workmanship. Delivered from the kingdom of darkness and translated into the kingdom of His dear Son. Joint-heir with Christ. In the household of faith. I've become a child of God. You know these passages and more. 

This role comes with tremendous instruction. Instruction like, be kind. Forgive. Come boldly before the throne of grace. Don't let sin reign in your body. Exercise towards godliness. Be filled with the Spirit. Provoke believers to good works. Redeem the time. And that's just a sampling. Working out my role in Christ is the most rewarding focus I can have. It's tied to my very identity. Don't marginalize it in pursuit of something more 'single-ish'. 

2. I have a role in the body of Christ

Singles can feel and act like misfits in the church. I won't be missed if I don't go today. I'm just one, so my gifts/input have no value. My married peers are given much more respect and attention. No one understands my single life. There's no real ministry for me. So we stop attending, or church hop seeking for more singles. A constant search to fit in. 

But Christ has already fit us in. Do I believe that? That God has set me in the body of Christ just as He desires? That He's fitly joined me together with those in my church? That I have an effectual measure necessary for the body to make increase of itself in love? That my gifts are for building up the body of Christ? That as a joint I have something to supply that no one else can? A body part's value lies in its healthy attachment to other members, not apart from them or in a grouping of the same part. If it detaches from the body everybody suffers.

Don't take this role in the body of Christ and its wealth of instruction lightly. Pray, seek counsel, and work at applying it. You will become one of the most satisfied singles around. You'll be doing what you were created and positioned to do. 

3. I have a role as an unmarried believer

I Corinthians 7 makes a great study that I'm not about to touch with a ten foot pole. But Paul makes an instructive observation there. The married person is to focus on caring for their spouse, how they can please them. The single? Is to care for the things of the Lord, how they can please Him. 

This role for the single looks like undivided attention. How can I use this money to please the Lord? There's no financial constraints of a family to consider. How can I tailor my time to care for the things of the Lord? I don't have to be home to bathe the kiddos. Lord, how should I plan/prepare for ministering to the body of Christ? I can go and do with abandon. Everyday, I can focus solely on caring for the things of the Lord and pleasing Him. In every thing. That's breathtaking. Don't ignore it. 

.................................................

I confess that I found myself thinking "Yes, but..." several times while writing this. But that's never the right response to Bible truth, is it. These roles aren't options on the smorgasbord of single life. I can't dismiss them as I revel in my individual freestyle or pine away for something else (both tendencies of mine.) I also found that there's enough instruction within these three roles to keep me busy, focused, and satisfied until Christ returns. And I'm pretty sure...

There's more than enough grace to do just that. 

Beth