As holiday cards featuring cute families and couples and kiddos cover your fridge, do you feel the pinch of singleness this season? The last few weeks, you may have attended Christmas celebrations hosted by your workplace, church, or closest friends—each event offering its own mix of holiday cheer while also drawing attention to your lack of plus one. 

Nightly Hallmark movies offer their own solutions. Most suggest that if you begin this season single, all you need to do is head back to your hometown and bump into your high school crush, accidentally get into a handsome stranger’s Uber at the airport, or sit next to the perfect someone at a holiday trivia night—because apparently romance is just a snowflake away. 

Based on the messaging at this time of year, it’s tempting to believe there are only two options to surviving December as a single woman: 

  1. Feel lonely and incomplete without a partner.
  2. Prove you’re independent and successful on your own. 

But Scripture offers another way. For those who are single this Christmas season, the Bible invites us to rest in the sufficiency of Christ, allowing Him to fully meet us in our longing while reminding us that wholeness, hope, and joy are ours today. 

Desire and Distortion 

If this is a tender topic for you, it’s important to know the Bible doesn’t dismiss your desire for marriage or demand self-sufficiency. The opening chapters of Genesis speak to both our God-given need for companionship and our tendency to ask more of it than it was ever meant to give.

In Genesis 2, before sin entered the world, the Lord looked at the single man He had made and said, “It is not good for man to be alone” (Gen. 2:18). God didn’t dismiss Adam’s need; He acknowledged it and graciously provided a solution. We, too, were created to flourish in the context of community. “Relationship,” one scholar notes, “is modeled after God who does not exist in isolation but is a triunity, surrounded by a heavenly court.”1

Our longing for relational intimacy isn’t a flaw or evidence of spiritual immaturity; it’s part of God’s design. But while the desire for companionship is good, the temptation is to believe that a romantic relationship is what will finally make us whole. Isn’t that the message that surrounds us during the holidays—the not-so-subtle message that joy cannot be complete until a significant someone chooses you?

The messaging today may sound different than what was presented to Eve in Genesis 3, but since that moment, “the fundamental lure of every temptation remains the same.”2 Notice what the serpent promised:

Now the serpent was the most cunning of all the wild animals that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You can’t eat from any tree in the garden’?”

The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit from the trees in the garden. But about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, God said, ‘You must not eat it or touch it, or you will die.’”

“No! You will certainly not die,” the serpent said to the woman. “In fact, God knows that when you eat it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” The woman saw that the tree was good for food and delightful to look at, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom. (Genesis 3:1–6) 

Notice the lure. As one commentary explains, Eve was tempted to improperly satisfy one of three core needs: our physical need (“good for food”), our intellectual-emotional need (“delightful to look at”), and our spiritual need (“desirable for obtaining wisdom” ).3

Singleness often presses on all three. Temptation whispers: You’ll always feel lonely if you have no one to hold or care for you. Do you see everyone else coupled up? You deserve that too. If you could just find the right person, you would finally feel accepted and seen for all that you are. Maybe then you would feel like your life is moving in the right direction, like you’re not falling behind, like you have real purpose.

Jesus, a single man Himself, faced all three categories of temptation—we see that most clearly during His time in the wilderness (see Matt. 4:1–11). More broadly, He lived a life that looked incomplete by every cultural standard. While those around Him grew up, got married, and had kids, He never formed a nuclear family. When He returned to His hometown, He didn’t receive a warm Hallmark-style welcome. (When those in Nazareth heard his teaching, Luke 4:29 says, “They got up, drove him out of town, and brought him to the edge of the hill that their town was built on, intending to hurl him over the cliff.”) He didn’t have a cozy, aesthetically-decorated home. As Jesus said in Matthew 8:20, “Foxes have dens, and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”

And yet, He lacked nothing. 

Jesus experienced the fullness of humanity, without sin. “He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief” (Isa. 53:3 ESV). He didn’t bypass the pain of this world. And because He entered it fully, He made a way for us to live wholly satisfied in Him—even when our earthly desires remain unmet.

Prove Him Sufficient

As followers of Jesus, it’s one thing to believe that He is sufficient to save us for eternity. But if someone asked, Would you be okay if you never got married? many single women, if they were honest, would answer no. Beneath that response often lies the assumption that we need Jesus and a relationship—Jesus and the affection of a spouse, Jesus and the purpose that comes with a husband and children.

The alternative we often reach for—self-sufficiency—is no better. The answer isn’t independence or emotional isolation. Scripture calls us instead to depend on the One who alone can satisfy the longings of our hearts and bear the full weight of our hope.

At its core, this struggle is not about our circumstances—it is about faith. So this season, consider the areas where you wrestle with singleness, and what it means to trust that Jesus is fully sufficient.

He’s enough in your longing. The Lord knows you—heart, body, and soul (Psalm 139), and He’s not only acquainted with grief, He’s acquainted with your grief (Psalm 56:8). He knows your disappointments, and He knows every dream and desire you still carry—because He made you.

When you’re tempted to believe God is generous to others but withholding from you, anchor yourself in truth: He is faithfully accomplishing His perfect plan for your life. Bring every longing to Him. Keep praying. Ask Him to help you live not out of what you lack, but out of your identity as one who is fully and completely loved.

He’s enough in your loneliness. When the silence of the season feels especially loud, don’t believe for a moment that the Lord has left you alone. Unlike human relationships, His presence is unwavering. He is our closest companion—and He’s promised us His presence. As Jesus said in Matthew 28:20, “Remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” 

Pay attention to how you try to fill the silence—with distractions, indulgence, or relentless activity. Let loneliness become a signal that your soul was made to depend deeply on Him. Then move toward others, seeking genuine, Christ-centered community and opportunities to serve those who also need the hope of Jesus. 

He’s enough in your breakup. Jesus didn’t navigate modern dating culture, but He knows the ache of a broken heart. He understands betrayal, rejection, and grief, and He draws near in the midst of yours (Psalm 34:18). He’s able to heal your heart, dissolve your anger, and restore your hope. He never wastes pain. If He has allowed this particular outcome, you can trust that He will use it to grow and satisfy you in ways that ultimately lead to your good.

He’s enough amid the feedback. Whether it comes as criticism, comparison, or unsolicited advice, the opinions of others can weigh heavily. Lean into Jesus, remembering that your worth is anchored in Him alone (Gal. 1:10). He will help you receive what refines your character without letting it define your identity. His voice carries the greatest authority, and He declares over you, “I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; you are mine” (Isa. 43:1).

He’s enough for your future. Will you marry? Will you have children? God alone knows the future, and the good news is that He is already there. Whatever gifts He chooses to give, He has promised to guide you, provide for you, and accomplish His good purposes. The future belongs to Him—and in Him, you have everything you need: peace, joy, and the promise of a glorious eternity together with Him (Psalm 16:11). 

He’s Enough for Today 

Single friend, this season offers you a sacred opportunity to demonstrate that Jesus truly is sufficient. As you date, wait, or invest deeply in the lives of others, you can testify that His presence satisfies in ways no human relationship ever could.

Invite Jesus into your deepest longings, your moments of loneliness, the confusion of breakups, and even the anticipation of new connections. Let your prayers, thoughts, and actions declare this unshakable truth: He is enough—this month, next month, and in every season of your life.

1 Bruce K. Waltke and Cathi J. Fredricks, Genesis: A Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2001), 88.

2 Michael Rydelnik and Michael G. Vanlaningham, eds., The Moody Bible Commentary (Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2014), 28.

 3 Michael Rydelnik and Michael G. Vanlaningham, eds., The Moody Bible Commentary (Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2014), 28.

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