The last half of the commandments we didn’t talk about when we read Exodus 20 together. You shall not murder. Jesus doesn’t make this command harder when he said that you shouldn’t hate your brother. Jesus was clarifying the command.

Sin actions start with sin thoughts. It’s not the murder that’s the worst thing; it’s the hate. The Mosaic Law protects the person who accidentally kills someone because the bad part is the hate.

You need to keep hate from your heart. How can we get rid of hate? The best way is to not let it get there in the first place. We need to be quick to forgive, knowing that we are sinners too and God forgave us. We need to offer God’s love to others, knowing God loved us while we were still sinners.

The next command is to not commit adultery. Again, Jesus wasn’t making it harder saying you must not even look at a woman with lust; he was clarifying. It’s the heart we need to be careful of. We need to take thoughts captive. That’s where sins begin. Women shouldn’t look at a man with lust either, and no one should try to get others to give attention to their bodies. We only need God’s love and attention. Find your lovability in Christ. You are perfectly loved by God and all your needs are met in Him. There is no need for finding love in someone else.

If God gives you the gift of another person to love, you give your eyes and your body only to that person for the rest of your lives. And if He chooses for you to be single, why would you give your eyes and body to someone else’s spouse? And if you have that one person out there, wouldn’t it make sense to keep your eyes and body for that person even before you are together? If you were made to be with that one someone, why would you ever go after someone else?

My husband had to wait until he was twenty-four to meet me. I was a senior in college at the time. I wouldn’t have been ready any earlier than that. My husband told his mom the day we met that he had met the woman he was going to marry. He met my parents the next day. We lived in different states and spoke on the phone and sent letters for a few months. We went on one dinner date. The next day he took me to meet his parents. The next weekend he proposed.

It can happen that easy when you give your lives over to the Lord’s plan. We’re still humans, but my marriage is an amazing blessing in my life. I’m grateful for the love and life we share.

Singleness, never marrying, is a gift too. Both Jesus and Paul encouraged it and lived it.