In 2012, I was invited to be a member of a panel at a Christian
singles conference. After speaking about living a purposeful life, and
remaining pure in singleness, the topic of marriage invariably came up. A
woman stood up and started pouring out her heart about how she desired a
husband. How she was in her late thirties and did not want to be alone
anymore. She said that she was on the verge of ‘settling’!
In an attempt to comfort her, an older woman whom we will call Sarah
stood up and proclaimed that she was single at 60 AND had never married.
Sarah started to encourage the younger lady. She said, look at me, I
am 60 and not married but I will not settle. I want what God wants for
me and will not settle for less. I have had many counterfeit men come
into my life. Sarah then went ahead and started to rattle off about the men that had been potential suitors
and what was wrong with them. As she spoke, somethings that seemingly
escaped her started to become clear to those of us on the panel. She was
to blame for being single at 60.
Here are some of the things we realized about Sarah that kept her single.
Sarah wanted Jesus…not a disciple of Jesus…but Jesus Himself
Many women, like Sarah are looking for the perfect mate. They want
someone who is going to complete them and be their everything! If this
is you, then my question to you is this: If a man completes you and
becomes your everything, then what position is Jesus taking in your
life? Jesus is the one that completes you and is meant to be your
everything. So, to look for completeness in a man is to make that man an
idol in your life, it is to have put man above God! This will only lead
to ruin because no man is perfect! Try as he might, he will disappoint
you! So stop looking for someone who will not disappoint you over the
lifetime you wish to be married…you will not find it. Even you, yes
you…have and still disappoint many people…whether you realize it or
not…whether you meant it or not. Instead of looking for perfection, look for someone who is striving towards perfection.
This is a person that loves God and does not want to be conformed to
the world but whose life’s purpose is to be transformed into the image
of Jesus.
As my mom says, if you meet a person who is perfect, run away, for
you will make imperfect whatever is making that person seem perfect.
Sarah saw herself as a princess, but she did not care to prince her man
There are many women who see themselves as awesome and incredible
royalty. Many women say, I want to be treated like a princess! The issue
is that they do not want their man to be a prince. They do not want to
share any power or give up any control. Instead, they want their
partners to take the position of a slave while treating them like a
princess. The reason many women cannot let go of control is because of
fear – perhaps due to not dealing with the hurts of past relationships.
The moment the man does not give her the power she craves, she takes it
as he not treating her like a princess and so searches for greener
pastures. Conversely, many men see that while they are giving all they
have, the woman is not following suit! Many women think that this is
part of being pursued; many men simply see it as being disrespectful.
As a princess, you have to make sure you prince your man. Compliment
him and let him know that you appreciate that he is being led by the
King. Let go of the control. Taking a chance at love means you take a
chance with your heart. This is because only the heart can feel love,
not your head.
Sarah liked being pursued but did not want to be caught
In the bible, the servant of Abraham went to a land far away in
pursuit of a wife for Isaac. When he got there, it was Rebekah that came
to the well. When he approached, she did not play games and
dilly-dally. No, she said that she would not wait as her family had
requested but would follow Eliezer immediately back to Isaac. When Boaz
pursued Ruth, Ruth decided to show her interest by laying at his feet.
See, both Rebekah and Ruth showed interest. They did not play games or
play hard to get.
Ladies, if a prince has found you, then admit it and go forward as
long as you have God’s blessing. I am not saying be easy, but at the
same time, do not be hard to get. Just as you are a gift to him, he is
also a gift to you! If a man is pursing you, do not run him away with
games.
Sarah was way too picky
Sarah did not want God to decide whom she should marry but decided on who she wanted to marry. In essence, she said: God, forget about who you desire for me, this is the person I want to marry…now make it happen! It was no longer God’s will for her life but her will for her life!
But does God not want to give us the desires of our heart? Yes…as
long as it glorifies God. In fact, the scripture says: delight yourself
in the Lord, and he will give you your heart’s desires. As you delight
yourself in the Lord, you will find that His desires become your
desire…thus your desire will glorify God!
You must believe right now that what God wants for you is better than
what you could ever want for yourself in the long run. If he is not
giving you your hearts desires, it may be because you are not ready to
handle your heart’s desire. It may be because what you desire is not
desirable!
Sarah wanted Boaz but wanted to remain a Delilah
Do not be like Sarah! Every potential suitor she met had some flaw
that was fatal. One could not provide. Another could provide but was not
attractive enough. A third was attractive and could provide but did not
pay her enough attention. Yet, another paid her too much attention. She
forgot that she was filled with flaws herself! She was so busy finding
fault with everyone that she had no time to look at herself. She was so
busy trying to find the speck in someone else’ life that she forgot that
the log in her eyes was blinding her vision of the truth about herself.
The truth that just like everyone else, she is imperfect and needs a
savior as well!
Sarah could not understand why the one’s she thought were ‘perfect’
for her were not interested. Sarah, perhaps it is because they are not
willing to ‘settle’ either.
I thank God that he did not wait for us to be perfect but settled for
us. He wants us to settle for nothing less than Himself. This means
that we have to take the reins off our own lives and surrender
completely to His will. It seemed that Joseph
settled for Mary when He married a pregnant girl…but He became
immortalized in history because of it. Are you willing to settle for
God’s best for you?
Culled from SuperChamps