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Let's face it. There are more Christian women out there than men. Take a look at any church service on Sunday morning or any Christian singles group on Saturday night and the statistics are undeniable: You've got a lot better chance of finding a spouse there if you're male than if you're female. Sociologists write textbooks to explain this phenomena, but that's not much comfort to a Christian woman edging into her thirties—unaccompanied.

A woman in this category has several choices. She can explore romance with a non-Christian. Or she can start getting used to the possibility that she may be single for the rest of her life. It's not an easy choice. If she begins to consider non-Christians, she goes against Paul's specific instructions to Christians: "Do not be unequally yoke with unbelievers …. What part has a believer with an unbeliever?" (2 Corinthians 6:14, 15). Paul wisely warns that in this kind of marriage, the husband and wife will find little in common.

But for the Christian woman who intensely desires marriage, the alternative of remaining single seems harsh indeed. She is in fact suffering for her faith—and her choice to obey God's teachings. But Peter's letter is full of comfort for those who suffer for their faith. In this passage, he points to the example of Christ who also suffered for us (3:18). And because of Jesus, he also speaks of blessing and hope, even during suffering (3:14, 15). (See also Psalm 84; Jeremiah 29:10-14.)

Good Words to Remember:
For it is better, if it is the will of God, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. 1 Peter 3:17

Today's Challenge:
How does thinking of your singleness in this light affect your response to the single life?

Copyright © 2001 by the author or Christianity Today International/Christian Bible Studies.

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