I’ve decided that I will never marry. People try to convince me otherwise, telling me that I wouldn’t be able to live a fulfilled life. Some even go so far as to tell me that I would be defying God’s will. Is this true?

This is difficult to answer in your particular case, since I don’t know the process for your decision. Is this a vocational kind of calling (like a Priest or Brother or Sister) would have? Or is it simply a decision you have come to, in consideration of your own strengths and weaknesses?

In the first case, the choice is between you and God. It would probably not be a decision that you imagined for yourself, and would take lots of prayer and surrender. If you are choosing God’s will in this decision, there will be struggles against the choice (besides with your friends). Paul, in the book of 1 Corinthians, admires this choice for a believer who desires to serve God.

But, Paul also warns about the hasty making of such a decision, and the rarity of it (chapter 7, verses 1 and following). Sexuality, he admits, is a powerful thing, and is better contained within marriage than unsuccessfully repressed. If you are simply making this choice on the basis of your own feelings (albeit noble), then I believe that your friends are correct–not about the “unfulfilled life,” but about defying God’s will. God says (through Paul), “I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.” (Galatians 2:20a). Your choice to marry or not now belongs in Christ’s hands. In fact, all of your choices are now subject to Christ’s control. And far from being “bad news,” you have the fantastic promise that “all things [in your life will] work together for good.” (Romans 8:28, brackets mine).