Focus

 

DEVOTION

THE 1^ST LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS

FOCUS

1 Cor 7:25-31

25 Now about virgins: I have no command from the Lord, but I give a judgment as one who by the Lord's mercy is trustworthy. 26 Because of the present crisis, I think that it is good for you to remain as you are. 27 Are you married? Do not seek a divorce. Are you unmarried? Do not look for a wife. 28 But if you do marry, you have not sinned; and if a virgin marries, she has not sinned. But those who marry will face many troubles in this life, and I want to spare you this.

29 What I mean, brothers, is that the time is short. From now on those who have wives should live as if they had none; 30 those who mourn, as if they did not; those who are happy, as if they were not; those who buy something, as if it were not theirs to keep; 31 those who use the things of the world, as if not engrossed in them. For this world in its present form is passing away.

NIV

Again, this is not a command from God, but a suggestion from someone who has been called by God to give instructions regarding life. This is applicable today as we have pastors, teachers who have been called by God, who are, in fact, gifts to the church, who unwrap the word of God and bring more clarity to those who simply read it, but not with the full understanding or comprehension of all its truth. This is what Paul says he is trying to do for those believers in Corinth. Of course, they did not even have the word to read as we do, they only had the spoken words of various traveling preachers. Being mostly gentiles, we would think they did not even have the Torah. Nevertheless, Paul continues with his instructions regarding this idea about marriage and singleness. It seems he would much rather a single person not get married as well as remain celibate. He has already said that, but in addition said that if celibacy was too difficult, that the passions of the flesh were too strong, rather than sin outside the bonds of marriage, they should marry. Still, he believes, and not the Lord, that in the present crisis, which would indicate, this is strictly instructions for the Corinthians and we would not think to need to heed this suggestion. There was trouble in river city, so to speak and Paul says the time is short and marriage is going to be the cause of a lot of troubles. He even suggests that if a man is married, he should live as though he wasn’t. That is so not according to the design of God, so we have to consider this was only for those in Corinth because of the present crisis. In those days, as it has been in other days throughout history, the church was under much persecution. This idea here is that a single person would have it easier defending themselves, or caring for themselves, than someone with a family who they needed to make sure were protected and cared for as well. It would seem that does apply today in some sense. It is certainly easier in some respects to live as a single person than as a married person. Of course, today many singles never intend to remain celibate, but cohabitate for the pleasures of life, but without the responsibilities of marriage. If troubles develop, rather than having to cope they escape. This is the sense Paul was thinking, but it was more about troubles of persecution as believers. Still, it would seem that marriage today does require a certain sense of divided attention. Because we live in this world, we have to pay certain attention to making our way in it, and having a family requires paying more attention to providing a way, then a single may have to. Because of this, we cannot give all of our attention to the things of God, we just need to allocate time for the things of God and the things of the world. However, as believers, in our time spent within the world, doing whatever we do, we should be conducting ourselves with respect to the ways of the Lord. That is His ways should ever be present with us and should influence our time spent making our way in the world, which would mean we are not engrossed in the things of the world, but making a living is a necessary evil, so to speak. Paul gives us this idea in saying the things we own, we should not think we own them. If we buy something, we should see it as not ours to keep for everything will pass away. What it would appear is that although we have to live here, as it is what God created for us to live in, or on, we should not focus our attention on the very thing. This earth was created by God for us to live upon, but to live for Him and not for life itself. He designed a place where he could fellowship with his creation, and this place is still here, and he still wants to fellowship with us. So if our focus is upon the place instead of on Him, then we are not fellowshipping with Him, but with the place He created. It comes down to where is our focus.