As I read the book, I was not disappointed. Each chapter contains valuable truths that all women can glean from. The book is directed towards single women, challenging us to take advantage of this time (be it a phase in life or our lifelong destiny) and use it for God's glory.
Leutwiler holds up marriage as the good gift from God that it is. However, she cuts down the sinful motives for marriage that many, and probably most women have. She encourages passionate pursuit of godliness, not men. Over and over I was reminded of God's sovereignty over all things, including our future marriage, or lack thereof!
This is a great book. Great because it is an enjoyable, well written book, but mainly because I was encouraged to fall more deeply in love with Christ first, trusting in Him for all things, including this present gift of singleness. How will we serve Him now?
"Do not be afraid; you will not suffer shame.
Do not fear disgrace; you will not be humiliated
...For your Maker is your husband- the LORD
Almighty is His name."
-Isaiah 54:4-5
2 comments:
There's no such thing as "the gift of singleness", a term that was invented by the editors of the Living Bible (now the NLT) in the 60's that has since been removed. There are no "sinful" motives for marriage, as long as one is sincere in their desire to make it work. Read boundless.com, a website of Focus on the Family that aims to correct the shaming of single women who desire marriage.
I think you may be misunderstanding the point of this post. While I do believe God calls some to live a life of singleness, a life fully devoted to Himself, that is not what I am referring to. Each phase of our life is a gift from God.
We have our childhood and growing up years-truly a gift from God. The time in our adult lives before we are married is our time of singleness. That time is also a gift from God. We must use that time to glorify God. I do not think by any means that it is shameful for single women to desire marriage. I desire to be married with all my heart! However, it would not be good if I was so caught up with the idea of marriage that I did not embrace the time God has given me to grow and prepare for marriage.
I do think that there are sinful motives for marriage. Desiring to be married for the "status" of marriage, for example, would be wrong. Also, often times women wrongly believe that having a husband will make them completely satisfied and happy. If we are not utterly and totally happy and content and satisfied in Christ, we will not be satisfied by a husband.
Marriage is a beautiful gift from the Lord. It is a good thing, and to be desired. Being discontent or failing to live life to the fullest prior to that point in our life, wastes the time God gives us to “serve Him without distraction.”
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