5 Reasons Why Marriage is Better than Singleness (And Vice Versa) |

In part one of this post, “5 Reasons Why Singleness is Better than Marriage,” I mentioned the statistics that fewer people are getting married these days.

I imagine that part of the reason why marriage rates are down is because some (not all) people don’t value marriage that highly anymore. However, the Bible clearly says that marriage is a blessing, just as being single can be a blessing. Marriage has its own set of benefits, which are equally as good as the benefits of singleness.

Why being married is better than being single:

1. It’s not good for man to be alone.

That’s from Genesis 2:18. We’re not designed to go through life alone. Now, you can be single and not be alone; that’s a big reason we push for biblical community. But we can’t ignore that this verse is literally talking about marriage.

2. You can do more together than you can apart.

God designed men and women to complement each other. They’re not just different; they’re different in exactly the right way. They make a complete team, and a good team can accomplish things that individuals working separately cannot.

3. You experience intimacy.

All types of intimacy. (Not just physical intimacy, though that is included.) In marriage, you experience oneness. You share a life together. You know someone fully and are fully known by them, and you love and accept each other in that.

4. It makes you a better person.

Marriage is like hanging up a full-length, magnifying mirror on your life. It gives you the “iron sharpening iron” that you get from living in community, but in this case you’re living with community and sharing everything with them. You learn and grow from that, which is a good thing.

5. It’s a picture of God’s love for us.

God loves us and pursues us, no matter what. Even when that love required Christ’s self-sacrificial death on a cross, for a bride (the Church) who had done nothing to deserve it. He remained committed, and there was nothing that could stop His love. And that is, in a less dramatic way, what marriage is to be like. Two people demonstrating that kind of selflessness, forgiveness, acceptance, and commitment in a God-ordained marriage is the closest we can come to heaven on earth.

Don’t read this and think that one life stage is clearly better than another. They’re different, and they each have their own challenges, but you should be content wherever God has you. If you are married, stay married and make the most out of it, loving each other as God has designed. If you’re single, make the most out of your singleness while you can.

For those who are married: what’s been the biggest or most surprising change compared to when you were single?

- JP

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