Singleness as Idol

I’ve been debating whether to post about the topic above for a week or so. I have been brewing over the topic for years - especially pre-marriage. I was one of those guys in college ministry that was gung-ho about almost everything - from playing bongos on the worship team to PowerPoint debate over overhead projector to whether I should be a celibate for the rest of my life. I had equated true spirituality with privacy. God was most glorified in me when I was most alone with him. No distractions meant focus. I had adviced a lot of friends as to whether I should be single for the rest of my life or pursue marriage. Jim Elliot was influential in my life and I wanted to finish what he had started among the unreached peoples of the Amazon and Andes areas of South America. To my post: I suffered from the idol of singleness. I exulted in the fact that I was not tied down physically nor emotionally to someone else. I thought it would be a hindrance to service and worship of God. And so our culture today worships this idol - but for different reasons. Affluency, self-aggrandizement, freedom, autonomy, etc are the motives for such living. But I had to come to terms with the fact that I, too, suffered from the same motivations. Oh! That others would see my high-spirituality to forsake the status quo and live radically for the sake of the Gospel. It’s great to be able to say, “Lord, I will go anywhere and do anything for you” - and know that I can without consultation. My fear is not that there will be single people in the world. My fear is that Christians - those who follow Jesus - have the same motivations I did to stay single. Tomorrow: Marriage as Idol