Walter Henry’s Bookshop in Bideford, North Devon, UK. (via bookoasis; Photo by Bridgemarker Tim)
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I have heard the gospel a thousand times, in a thousand forms. No matter, preach it to me again. I hunger, I tire, I sigh. Preach it to me again; it is my food, it is my rest, it is my sweet embrace. Preach it to me again, will you have me starve by the lack of it? Tell me of my sin, I beg, tell me of the Son. Tell me of our Fountainhead; tell me what He’s done.
My mate Luke shares some good thoughts on a common church culture surrounding singleness, marriage and celibacy.
Sudden celebration erupts around a person as they depart the single life. The further away they get from singleness, the more lavish the celebration. Those who’ve found a ‘partner-for-a-while’ are offered hi-5’s and congratulations, those who commit to a partner are offered cheese boards and cutlery sets; as they start their life together we throw them lavish, extravagant events to celebrate their graduation from singleness.
The single person is offered condolences and blind dates…
God has a way of stripping everything that we think we need, and He leaves just Himself to us. It is never an easy thing to be in that situation; one day praising God for His goodness and the next crying out to Him to make Himself known in the storm.
When we have rooted ourselves to a safe place, God tends to rip us out of the ground and plant us somewhere new. We may hate it, revile Him for it, and even reject Him for a time. But when we look back, we will see that we needed to be uprooted, to be changed from that place that was slowly killing us.
God is the master gardener, He knows all His plants by name, He delicately removes the bad weeds and waters the good seeds. He does what needs to be done, so that one day we can look back and see the majesty that He was doing.
You are being made into a beautiful thing, something that God loves to watch grow. So the next time you are taken out of your comfort zone, know that Christ is slowly making you something great, because He is doing it; and He is the greatest thing.