Phenomenal Woman Series: Why Nothing About Jesus is Keeping You Single & Lonely
This post is a response to Deborrah Cooper’s article, “TheBlack Church: How Black Churches Keep African American Women Single andLonely,”
I’m just going to speak directly to any Christian woman who
happens to agree with her / has concluded that church-going has totally ruined
your dating life: CHURCH IS NOT ABOUT YOU, BOO.
As Christians we know — but, in our human nature, often
forget, or perhaps don’t fully understand — that we were created for one
purpose, and one purpose alone: the worship and praise of God. It is our
sole obligation to give God praise with our lives, with our talents, with our
words, and with our deeds. Attending church is just another avenue in which to
do just that. We come together to worship God solely for being an
awesome, all-powerful, all-knowing God who is able to supply every single need
we have. We also come to praise God for the things He has done
specifically in our lives and the lives of people we know.
If you have ever had a relationship with a man who is not a
Christian, you would know by now that it is a disaster. First you would begin
to question just how seriously you have to take the whole equally-yoked
command. And also justify your disobedience to God by saying that they
would one day become a Christian anyway and then you’d feel dumb for having
“given up” on him.
Once I was in a dangerous situation that compelled me to
pray for a guy’s safety and health. I have never prayed for an individual more
or harder in my entire life(then). Somewhere, in the midst of my praying
for him, I realized that this was something he could never do for me, even if
he did return my love (which, he did not, by the way. But, I digress). The
point is that in going through that situation, I finally saw what God wanted
for me and how much I was missing by settling for less than that. I saw
that God is not trying to “punish” us, or “limit our options” by requiring that
we be equally-yoked, He just knows what I didn't want to see at the time: that
we can never reach our potential being partnered with a person who is not
chasing a relationship, a daily communication with Christ. Does this make
this guy a “bad person,” for not doing this, as Cooper suggests Christian women
believe? Of course not. What it does, though, is make HIM not MY
person. (This took me a VERY long time to see).
Through that situation,I realized that I want a man who can
go to my God on my behalf and intercede for me in prayer. I want a man who is
not ashamed or afraid to get on his knees and pray for my soul, for my heart to
change if I’m being too stubborn and going against the will of God, for my
growth in Christ, for the fulfillment of the purpose that God created me for.
I want a man who understands that there is no life outside
of Christ, but within Him, there is everything; that knows that there is
great abundance in Christ that has absolutely nothing to do with wealth, or
power, or prestige — these meaningless attributes that ultimately fade — but a
man who is just satisfied solely by being an ingredient in God’s happiness,
like Christ lived His life solely to be an ingredient in God’s
happiness.
Just imagine: Christ loved us so much that He allowed
himself to be beaten, tortured, and murdered in OUR place — so that the sins we
commit in this world — every lie, every hateful act, every spiteful word, every
hurtful deed we've ever committed — wouldn't condemn us to being beaten,
tortured, and slain, but that we could have everlasting life in Heaven with
God, instead.
Imagine a man who loves you so much that he is willing to
lay his life down for yours, no matter how many times you break his heart
and no matter what you did in your past to deserve death, and no matter how
other people have condemned you; a man who loves you so deeply, solely because
you are a child of God whom God loves, and not because of what you've accomplished, how you look, how you cook, or anything else that you can do for
him; a man who loves you so much that nothing you have done or can do can
make him take his love away from you. And not just if you are willing to
love him back. This kind of love is just freely yours, no strings attached,
it is there for us to accept whenever we are ready to accept it.
This is
what Christ’s love for us looks like. And, more importantly, this is what
Christ’s love for God the Father looks like:
Even in Christ’s most painful hour — the night before He was
to be wrongfully convicted and heinously executed by the very people He loved
and came to save — Christ gave Himself completely over to God’s will because He
knew that through His obedience to the will of God that many people would be
saved. Saving us from our sins would make God truly happy. As a result of
Christ’s love and devotion to God the Father and His perfect will, God looked
down upon Christ and said, “This
is my son, in whom I am well-pleased.” And that was enough for Christ. He didn't need us to love Him back, to accept Him, to change our minds about our
sins, to be grateful to Him for His sacrifice for us because He had the
validation and confirmation of God — He did what He came to this earth to do,
and all the other great things that happened as a result of His life were
wonderful additions that also made God happy.
Now, imagine a man with no concept of Christ, with no
concept of His love and what pure love looks like, no concept of the peace,
joy, and completion that comes from living a life solely to please God — and
see what you are missing. Settle for less, if you so choose.
But, as I've been told and I truly believe: A man who won’t
break God’s heart, won’t break yours, either. Oh! To have a man whose soul
desire is to make God happy! Makes me want to take a lap around the church.
The purity, beauty, love, and perfect peace that this
spiritual connection to another person through Christ brings us cannot be
manufactured nor substituted. There is no movie-theater love, lust, or
sex that can even reach the same stratosphere as the purity of an intimate
relationship that is engulfed by the Holy Spirit and ordained by God.
Settling for less than what God can provide — and wants to provide
for us — is really just dissatisfying and heart-breakingly sad. ANY church that
is teaching you otherwise, FLEE from it!
I get that this is a lot to swallow. This is difficult to
understand for people like Ms. Cooper. This is difficult to understand for
folks who do not yet know Christ or understand His ways or what kind of
transformations He has the ability to bring about in our lives. This is difficult
for Christians to understand, and requires God transforming our
hearts and stirring a revolution in our minds that redirects our focus solely
on Him and giving Him praise on a daily basis. It took me two years of lowliness, of wallowing in myself,
my relationship mistakes, and my sullied reputation, to get to the point where
I would be receptive to this revelation that God’s pure love and His perfect
will should be my sole desire. But, praise God! I am here now. Sometimes
it takes a breakdown — and even God breaking us down — to realize
that IT IS NOT ABOUT US: the key to our wholeness, freedom, and satisfaction is
to just be consumed with Him.
So, if you are Single & Sad & Lonely — and
Christian, it’s a sign that your heart has not yet been consumed by
Christ. You have to die to receive the pure love that Christ is offering
you, meaning that you have to die to yourself. You have to give up your desires
and your ambitions, and ask God to radically transform your heart, thoughts,
and deeds to be solely focused on Him and not yourself. (As you can see,
following your will and your desires, and your ambitions has
kept you — Single & Sad & Lonely.) You will otherwise be perpetually
unhappy and dissatisfied — never quite fulfilled, always needing something that
you just can’t quite explain. And everything that you try to fill that void
with — men, career, beauty, children — everything will fail to give you the
complete happiness that you desire and that God wants you to have.
Instead, as the Word commands us, you must: “Seek the Kingdom of God above all else,
and live righteously, and He will give you everything you need.”
Does this guarantee you will be married before you turn 30?
Clearly, not. Does this mean you should get lost in Christ and be
consumed by His love for you until such time as your real knight and
shining armor comes along and starts paying you attention? Girl, be for
real.
No, I’m serious — be for real. Be for real about
your commitment to Christ and to your sole purpose of worshiping God with your
lives and your whole heart. Be for real about meditating on God, reading
and studying His word, entering into fellowship with other Christians who can
help you on your journey to knowing Him and His purpose for you. Be for
real about not living in sin anymore. Be for real about asking God to make
your sole desire be for God to say this about you: “This is my child,
with whom I am well-pleased.” Go out into this world and spread the love of
Jesus to every soul you meet, using the talent and purpose God
created you with. And watch how He will fulfill you like you've never been
fulfilled. And see Him open up windows and pour you out blessings you don’t
have room enough to receive.
So, Ms. Cooper, the man you mention that “may not EVER set
foot in a church, read the Bible or even pray”; that man who can love me as
much as he is able to love —outside of Christ; that man who will “happily honor
your spirit and desire to leave your mark on the world,” but doesn't understand
why my spirit is married to Christ and that my desire to fulfill my purpose is
solely for God’s happiness; that man who isn't also seeking these things for
himself — that man is a bridge to nowhere for me.
I’d rather have Jesus. And I pray that one day you’ll
understand why.
Comments
Post a Comment