So I found a podcast for the Village Church a few weeks ago and I’ve been listening to quite a few of the sermons. I finished up their series on singleness. Two things stood out from that series. The first is that singleness and marriage are both gifts from God. The word used in 1 Cor 7 is the same used for spiritual gifts. So God gives us a grace gift regardless of the situation in which we find ourselves. The other concept is that as a single I need to quit whining and get up and walk. I need to walk in the situation in which Christ called me. Also during this time I need to allow Christ to continue to work on my character. This pastor mentioned specifically selfish, communication and conflict resolution.
The other series I’m listening to now is on loneliness. This one on the surface looks like it would tie in with the singleness series and it does to a point yet loneliness is something experienced by everyone regardless of marital status, economic status or educational background. The main point I brought away from the series so far is that being more social is not going to fix loneliness. Loneliness stems from the fact that we are sinful and broken people. On the upside however, it is in these times of loneliness that the Lord comes in meets with us in deep, intimate fellowship. The pastor used a great quote from C.S. Lewis,
“We can rest contentedly in our sins and in our stupidities, and anyone who has watched gluttons shoveling down the most exquisite foods as if they did not know what they were eating will admit that we can ignore even pleasure. But pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our consciences, but shouts in our pains. It is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world. A bad man, happy, is a man without the least inkling that his actions do not ‘answer,’ that they are not in accord with the laws of the universe.”
So that is my prayer now that during this time that I feel lonely that God would meet with me and change me.
If you are interested in checking out the podcast from the Flower Mound Campus - Village Church. They also have transcripts of most of the sermons as well.