devotion and the end

Good morning sisters and brothers,
Here Paul gets into thinking outside where God has specifically led him, and he's honest about that. One of the keys to understanding Paul's perspective on practical matters like marriage shows itself here. Here, he explains his thinking, "in view of the impending crisis, " and, "the appointed time is short." What he means in both cases is that the end of history is rapidly approaching. That was a conviction that not only Paul but all of the early Christian leaders held tightly. We can see why thinking the world would end in a month or a year would change the way we thought about marriage.

When Paul talks about being single as preferable, he's thinking only about how to make the best use of the short time we have left to proclaim the good news. Today, we have to take Paul's view with a grain of salt, because two thousand years later the world is still turning and the rent will still probably be due next month. At the same time, we have a lot to learn from Paul's sense of urgency. After all, tomorrow will be someone's last day. We never know how much time we have left, so married or single, let's make the most of it for ministry.

God bless,
Sam

1 Corinthians 7:25-35

25Now concerning virgins, I have no command of the Lord, but I give my opinion as one who by the Lord’s mercy is trustworthy. 26I think that, in view of the impending crisis, it is well for you to remain as you are. 27Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be free. Are you free from a wife? Do not seek a wife. 28But if you marry, you do not sin, and if a virgin marries, she does not sin. Yet those who marry will experience distress in this life, and I would spare you that.


29I mean, brothers and sisters, the appointed time has grown short; from now on, let even those who have wives be as though they had none, 30and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no possessions, 31and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the present form of this world is passing away.


32I want you to be free from anxieties. The unmarried man is anxious about the affairs of the Lord, how to please the Lord; 33but the married man is anxious about the affairs of the world, how to please his wife, 34and his interests are divided. And the unmarried woman and the virgin are anxious about the affairs of the Lord, so that they may be holy in body and spirit; but the married woman is anxious about the affairs of the world, how to please her husband. 35I say this for your own benefit, not to put any restraint upon you, but to promote good order and unhindered devotion to the Lord.