The Ten Contentments

         “Thou shalt not murder!” When we think of the Ten Commandments, a great booming voice with thunder crashing and lightning from atop a mountain come to mind. Foreboding. Ominous.

While this is Biblically accurate, I saw things differently in the words last time I studied the Ten Commandments.

The Ten Commandments actually begin with the line “I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.” God’s specific instructions follow, but because of this opening line I also saw God pleading with the people He loves to find their hope in him, to be contented in His care.

While God is giving His “Thou shalt nots”, beneath that surface I hear “Trust in me and be content that I am working for you. I will guide you, fight for you, and save you.” Maybe you’ll hear them too.

You shall have no other gods before me.

Be content that I AM is your God. There is no other.

You shall not make for yourself a graven image.

Be content with faith in the great, beautiful unseen God. No image of any other creature compares.

You shall not take the name of the Lord in vain.

Be content to only use His name honorably. Trust He answers His own when they call His name even though He is unseen.

Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy.

Be content with His provision for your needs. Content in your limitations and God’s strength to provide all your needs

Honor your parents.

Be content to honor the authorities God has placed in your life.

Do not murder.

Be content with God’s gift of life and free will. Allow the Lord to fight your battles.

Do not commit adultery.

Be content in your commitments and to honor others’ commitments.

Do not steal.

Be content with God’s blessings on others.

Do not lie.

Be content to let the truth stand or fall on its own.

Do not covet.

Be content with what God has given you and has not given you.

God is continually welcoming us to draw closer to Him. While His commands may begin with a negative, He always punctuates His words with love, accompanied by an invitation to trust and find our contentment in Him.

Check me out on SmallGroups.com!

Hello all!
I have written activities to be used in small groups as icebreakers, team builders, or just for fun!  They've been posted at SmallGroups.com which has a lot of other resources available for small groups. Click to go to the Either Or activity or click through to try Color-Coded Quirks.  Try them out and let me know what you think!

Plugging a New Small Group Resource

A new FREE resource is available through SmallGroups.com!  The SmallGroups.com Digizine was pretty much my first encounter with a digizine.  Yes, it's exactly what it sounds like: digital + magazine = digizine!  You click on the table of contents, and link to the article.  You turn the page, and Erwin Lutzer starts preaching!  Will the innovations of this digiworld -- yes, digital + world -- never cease?
I can see this becoming a resource I will return to for fresh ideas and encouragement .  The digizine has everything from guiding small group leaders in a right frame mind to a new kind of brownie recipe that I might try soon.  Even the ads in the 'zine were helpful!  The Resource Review on small group for the kids is something I will follow-up on for our ministries at church very soon.

I hope as singles we are all seeking to be in smaller fellowships like a small group, life group, or home group ... or whatever you call your holy handful.  As single adults, we don't have our own families like our married friends, but we should be in fellowship with people in the family of God.  So find a small group to join and if you're not in one, start one!  Use the great resource available through the Digizine to get started!

It's Not About Dating

I am just going to put a little blurb out, but first I want to welcome my new followers!  The following on the blog just jumped 300%!  Thank you for coming and joining in on a topic that I think is a very important one today as Christians.  The single population in general is larger than in the past, and the Christian population also reflects that so I think it is a very important topic to be thoughtful about.  Thanks again.

So, I had a thought while doing a google blog search to see if my blog came up (it wasn't there!).  A few blogs came up in the search for "Christian single" but not one of them was speaking on encouraging each other simply as singles.  They all had dating talk on it, which isn't wrong but dating isn't what the Christian single should be about.  They were speaking about the dating encounters they had and talking about how to get guys to ask you out more often.  It sounds to me like they are perhaps Christian, but still dating the way the world does.  I take issue with that only because Jesus told us to be in the world, but not of it.

As single believers, our main goal is not to get married or be in a dating relationship.  We should be about our Father's business as modeled by our brother, Jesus (Luke 2.41-52).  Sometimes our business here on earth requires that we have a marriage partner at some point, sometimes not.  Marriage is not even going to exist in heaven; it won't be essential to eternity (Matt 22.30). God does not emphasize marriage as a single person's goal.  Show me the passage in the Bible that proves I'm wrong, and I will silence myself and say no more.  God does not even emphasize marriage as a married person's goal!  Our relationship with him is the object of our hope, not relationships with others.

So if that's not what our minds should be on, then what's our focus?  Colossians 3:3 says, "Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things."  Jesus said that marriage is an earthly thing.  Even though it is important, people who are married shouldn't even be setting their minds on the here and now.  I know they have plenty to be concerned about, but Colossians was written for everyone, not just singles.  We set our minds on the hope that Jesus Christ cares for us now and that he is returning to claim us, his own. We set our minds to having faith that he not only cares, but that he aids and comforts us.  We set our minds on love, his great love that caused him to lay his life down for terrible sinners that he sees as precious children in need of true love.
Until next blog ...

Surviving another year in singlehood

It's my birthday next week!

This year will mark my 33rd year of singlehood. Sometimes I wonder if that's long enough and other times I wonder if it's not quite long enough. Let me check my left hand ... ok, not long enough yet.

It's interesting to think on each person's different walk. Some will be single for their entire lives, others get married young so they're married most of their lives, and still others will get married later in life (perhaps past child-bearing age). I realize that if marriage happens for me, it's going to be in my thirties or beyond at this point.

That is so not what my girlhood dream was.  Who dreams of being single?  I was supposed to go to college, find a good man, fall in love, marry him, and start having kids by the time I was 25.

I have replaced that dream with a different focus now. That includes seeking my heavenly maker with my whole heart, finding my identity and purpose in him, and sharing my discoveries with the world. Sure, I still want to get married, but it's more of a back-burner dream. It's kind of an 'if-I-get-to-it dream' or -- better yet -- if it's God's will.  Marriage, kids, and family are wonderful things, but if that is the true desire of my heart and not seeking God, then even those things won't fill me.  And I have to say: I am full.  God is so good.  I love the Lord, His gifts, and the people He's given in my life to love.

One of the greatest gifts I think God has given me is the ability to enjoy the life He's given me.  I have that because I asked for it.  Will you ask Him, too?

A New Reason

I just thought of another reason to rejoice in my singleness: When I go home at the end of my day, my day is over. When married people go home at the end of the day, they have at least one other person that needs their attention. Their day may not be over until the lights go out ... even then, who knows? Small children can have a habit of making nights even longer and sleep shorter. This was a new realization for me this year.
Now, is that to say I never want this myself? No. I am, however, glad that is the way my life is now. If I ever have a family of my own, I will surely take on the responsibility joyfully when it is my turn. Currently, it is not my turn. I think of it as resting up and enjoying the moment. In moments like these, I can be glad I don't have those obligations for now.

Being Alone

A lot of people, probably many of them women, are very afraid of being alone. Not only being alone, but to END UP alone. I believe this fear consumes them, and because of that, they are incapacitated to move forward with a full, open, loving single life. I'd rather be single than with someone just because I didn't want to be alone.
It makes me sad to see women staying with men because they fear being alone. We all know that aloneness is possible even when people are around. What about seeking after Jesus who never leaves us? He says, "Surely I am with you until the end of the ages." And the words of God the Father "Though heaven and earth shall pass away, my love for you will not pass away." This is for all believers, and not just the married ones. We do not need to fear being alone because our God is with us, He comforts us, and promises never to leave us. No one on earth can make that promise and keep it.