The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’” (Matt. “‘Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?’ And He answered him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and foremost commandment. Singles of all ages need a constant infusion of the gospel to steward their sexuality as an overflow of the beauty and power that comes from devotion to Christ. We know this is not easy, especially as we live in a culture that often proclaims sexual pleasure as the highest of all human experiences (and its counterpoint: to deny oneself in this area is to live a life of great tragedy). But Christian singles do have a life journey that does not include the experiences of sexual expression that married couples enjoy (or, to be honest, of those who choose to live outside of God’s design for our sexuality). Singles are complete in Christ just as much as those who are married. The apostle Paul and church father John Calvin, counter to the thinking of their time, proclaimed the surprising worth of being single and celibate, echoing Jesus’ words. Society, which up to that point was centered on marriage and family, was now to include those who were unmarried as valued and equal partners. One radical value Jesus proclaimed was that single men and women had equal standing in His kingdom. To follow Jesus faithfully means we need to reorient our values and priorities radically. For further information or to subscribe to the C HRISTIAN R ESEARCH J OURNAL go to: The full text of this article in PDF format can be obtained by clicking here. This article first appeared in the C HRISTIAN R ESEARCH J OURNAL, volume 37, number 01 (2014).
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