As a single person, it can be discouraging to see those around you getting married, having babies and building a life together.
When you get to a certain age, the questions about when you’re going to get married begin to pour in.
It can be easy to feel pressured by those around you to be in a relationship because your “time is ticking away.”
But I am here to encourage you, that someone else’s time is not your time.
The Lord knows your heart and your desires.
He has planned for some to get married and when that happens doesn’t come with a blueprint.
Yet, to others, He has given the gift of singleness.
There are Christians who desire marriage, and to live in a Christ-honoring covenant and to build a family.
Some Christian’s desire singleness, and to devote all of their pursuit toward the Kingdom.
Both of these desires are good.
Both have a place in God’s Kingdom and have the ability to bring Him glory while also bringing you joy and purpose.
If you’re looking for encouraging, wise and challenging Bible verses as a single, these scriptures are for you!
Important Bible Verses for Singles
1 Timothy 6:6-8
“But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.”
The word contentment is something that most of us would like to be described as, but when it comes to singleness, it can feel like a tug of war.
There are times when you may feel content in your singleness, and you trust in the Lord, and times when you feel absolutely discontent and like you are missing out on a party that everyone else is invited to.
If you’ve felt either of these ways or both, you are not alone.
One of the hardest battles in your singleness is learning to be content.
It is easier said than done, but I want to encourage you in that contentment is learned.
It takes time.
It is something that requires you to ask God to help you on a daily basis.
The word says, godliness and contentment is great gain.
As you grow in your individual relationship with God, and live in the fullness of who He is, you will begin to grow in contentment as well.
I love how this verse ends, because it can be applied to marriage as well.
If we didn’t come into the world with a spouse, we cannot take a spouse with us in the end.
But if we look at what we do have, whether singleness, or marriage, we will be content with that.
1 Corinthians 7:32-35
“I would like you to be free from concern. An unmarried man is concerned about the Lord’s affairs—how he can please the Lord. But a married man is concerned about the affairs of this world—how he can please his wife— and his interests are divided.
An unmarried woman or virgin is concerned about the Lord’s affairs: Her aim is to be devoted to the Lord in both body and spirit. But a married woman is concerned about the affairs of this world—how she can please her husband. I am saying this for your own good, not to restrict you, but that you may live in a right way in undivided devotion to the Lord.”
We often focus on marriage as a gift from God. But sinlessness is also seen as a gift in scripture.
In fact, the apostle Paul encourages those who are able to choose singleness to do so.
Why is that?
Scripture says so that they can be free from concern.
When you are unmarried, your sole concern and focus can be aimed toward God’s work.
How long you serve, when you serve, and where you serve is not dependent on your spouse or family.
There is a kind of freedom and risk-taking that comes with singleness that a married man or woman cannot take on on their own.
When you have made a covenant with someone, you commit to loving and serving them, as Christ has called you to.
This means that your interests are divided.
Your time, resources and energy gets split.
Why does Paul say this?
For your own benefit.
He does not try to withhold us from something good (marriage) but says, see, singleness can be something good too.
In your singleness, serve the Lord with undivided devotion, and if it is His will, He will bring someone into your life.
Song of Solomon 3:5
“Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you
by the gazelles and by the does of the field:
Do not arouse or awaken love
until it so desires.”
When we truly desire something, it can be easy to get blinded by the intensity of that desire.
It is the same with our singleness.
That is why Solomon cautioned the young women of Jerusalem, saying, do not awaken love until its time.
What does this mean for you in your singleness?
It means, do not rush a relationship.
Do not become so overcome with this desire for love and affection that you seek it in the wrong place, or with just anyone.
When you arouse love, it means you are stirring or trying to wake it up. Love should be awakened voluntarily.
It should occur mutually and organically, not by force.
This caution helps protect us from mistaking infatuation for true love, and pursuing relationships that have no intention of marriage in mind.
If God intends for you to be with someone, that relationship will blossom in its time. In the meantime, guard your heart and wait on the Lord.
2 Corinthians 6:14
“Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?”
As a single person, you will come across many people in your life.
You may meet Christians who show an interest in you, but you may also meet non-Christians who show an interest in you.
The kind of relationship that God calls a man and a woman into marriage is one where the couple is equally yoked.
A marriage is more than two people committing themselves to one another.
It is about two people who have given over their lives to Christ who commit to run the race together.
Being equally yoked is extremely important in relationships, and will spare you of a world of conflict.
This doesn’t mean that those who are equally yoked do not experience troubles.
However, when they have the same foundation and authority – God’s word, they know where to turn to in times of conflict.
Dear friend, it is better to be single than to be unequally yoked.
It is better to wait on God for someone who is devoted to Him than to pursue the person in front of you who disregards Him.
In the meantime, you can grow in your own walk with the Lord, so that you can be an equally yoked partner to the right person.
Mark 12:25
“When the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven.”
If we are honest, singleness can be very hard at times.
It can feel as though marriage would fix so many of the struggles you currently face.
Although we know this isn’t true, as loneliness can exist in marriage.
Sometimes we can get into a mode of idolizing marriage.
This verse in Mark can be very sobering, because it tells us that marriage will not exist in heaven.
We will still have relationships with one another as a whole, but in eternity they will neither marry nor be given in marriage.
Think about that for a second. In the light of eternity, our short time on earth, whether single or married, will not compare to our forever spent with Jesus.
And marriage will not exist in that forever. That puts things into perspective.
There are so many things that we can focus on right now that will carry through eternity.
I encourage you to be on mission for His kingdom, and if He chooses to bring someone beside you, may He remain the King of your heart.