A quick scan of Christian dating books nets these titles: I Kissed Dating Goodbye, When God Writes Your Love Story, How to Get a Date Worth Keeping: Be Dating in Six Months or Your Money Back, Finding Your Knight in Shining Armor, God Is a Matchmaker. [Shaking our heads and rolling our eyes…hard.]
It’s almost like no one knows how to talk to us about anything other than getting out of our current state of singleness. Few books these days help us to properly view our singleness in light of God’s sovereignty, our sanctification, and Eternity. They don’t really deal with helping us work through our brokenness to grow spiritually—unless it’s to work through it in order to get a spouse. The ache and the longing are there for a purpose, and the answer isn’t always marriage. But then, that answer probably doesn’t sell books as fast as money-back dating guarantees do.
So how can we plow through the titles that are out there to find the ones that are a meaningful use of our time?
SingleRoots Writers Say…
For wise counsel, we asked some of our SingleRoots alumni writers to weigh in on the matter. Here’s what they had to say:
“Redeeming Singleness by Barry Danylak was a game changer for me. I didn’t want to read a bunch of touchy-feely singles books about getting more dates or finding contentment. I was looking for a Biblical perspective on singleness that would make me think about my lot from a theological perspective instead of emotional one. Danylak does just that in his book, and by his doing so, I found it encouraging, too. You can get a free sample here.”
:: John, author of Single Men in the Church: Absent Without Leave
“After reading the SingleRoots discussion on Claire and Eli’s Altared: The True Story of a She, a He, and How They Both Got Too Worked Up About We, my interest was piqued. I devoured it and thought it was a great book about how Christians often pursue marriage at the expense of everything else. I was nodding my head along with it part of the time, and it was convicting at others. Also, Gary Thomas’ The Sacred Search: What If It’s Not Who You Marry but Why was a really great read, too. Thomas’ Sacred Marriage and Sacred Search books are centered around the idea that marriage wasn’t designed to make us happy but to make us holy. In a world that tells us that we’re searching for our soulmates, Thomas’s books are sobering and challenging.”
:: Liesl Bennett, author of Never Been Kissed…or in Love
“Anything by Tara Leigh Cobble or Elisabeth Elliot.”
:: Brooke Corcoran, author of What a Difference a Decade Makes: Thoughts on Waiting for Your Spouse
“The Meaning of Marriage by Tim and Kathy Keller. There is a great chapter on singleness in there and the whole book discusses the Biblical meaning for marriage rather that just the cultural desire for a partner/companion/lover/fulfillment. I didn’t read any books that really ministered to the ache of singleness. However, there were two articles that, for me, were life-changing. ‘Sex and the Single Woman‘ and ‘Should I be Content with My Singleness.’ These two articles were fundamental in my journey of truly being joyful in singleness despite an aching desire for marriage.”
:: Nicole Eckerson, author of Choosing Not to Harden My Heart
Explore the Topic Further…
For further discussion on books and studies to do while you’re single, check out these posts:
Christian Dating Books :: Which Ones Should I Read? – “Wading through an ever-growing list of Christian dating books can be tiresome. It seems everyone has something to say about this ever-growing topic, which isn’t even clearly delineated in the Bible. So when people ask us about dating book recommendations, we share 2 main categories. Sure there are probably a host of other approaches to dating, but these are the ones we’re most concerned about and by authors we respect.”
Books and Bible Studies for Christian Singles: A Resource List – “We did some digging, and we came up with some resources for those of you who are looking. Our answers include chapter books as well as workbooks with fill-in-the-blanks and weekly homework. If a book is what looks good to you on this list, we’re confident you can make your own fill-in-the-blank worksheets if you need some questions to answer in order to feel like a true Bible study has taken place.”
What Are Some of the Best Books/Studies to Help Me Get Out of a Spiritual Rut? – “You know as well as we do that there’s no magic formula to shake us out of our ruts, but sometimes it helps to get our hands on something that speaks to us right where we are. You know, some words from an author who just seems to put both hands on our shoulders and say, ‘Listen, it’s time to wake up…'”
