Our pastor read this verse during a sermon: “It’s better to stay unmarried, just as I am” (1 Corinthians 7:8). Quite happily wed himself, he followed the reading by saying, “Marriage complicates things.” Seconds later, a masculine voice emitted a long exaggerated “Aaaaamen.” The congregation broke into laughter.
In some cases, marriage can make life more complicated. Paul pointed out that people who are married need to think about their “earthly responsibilities” and how to please their spouses (1 Corinthians 7:33-34). A married person needs to consider his or her spouse in things such as spending money, making meals, or organizing a home environment.
As an alternative to marriage, Paul suggested that unmarried people could choose to remain single. This would protect a person from becoming overly focused on things other than ministering for Christ. Specifically, Paul said, “I want you to be free from the concerns of this life. An unmarried man can spend his time doing the Lord’s work and thinking about how to please him” (1 Corinthians 7:32).
While there are advantages to being single, there are also merits to being married. Married couples have an outlet for their physical passion (1 Corinthians 7:9). In addition, a healthy marriage provides for the foundation of a family in which both parents can nurture and lovingly equip their children to grow physically, emotionally, and spiritually.
Marriages are happiest when they mirror the mutual benefits and consistent faithfulness reflected in the relationship between Jesus and the church. Symbolically, believers are the bride of Christ (Ephesians 5:25-26). In this role, we receive the promise of Jesus’ never-ending protection, provision, and love.
NLT 365-day reading plan passage for today: Jeremiah 38:1-13
More:
Read Genesis 2:22-24 and consider what it fully means for a man and woman to be “united” in marriage before God.
Next:
How have marriages you’ve observed reflected the relationship Jesus has with the church? If not, how are they different? What’s the Holy Spirit’s role in a marriage between two believers?
Gary Shultz on May 26, 2017 at 6:33 am
Hi Jennifer: You ask a simple, but rending question Jennifer. I do see marriages that mirror the graciousness God will provide in a marriage, statistics show us more that are not. Looking back, there is so much to consider, but you can’t go back. Being a child of the 50’s not much was said or encouraged to most of my age group. But the uniting of man and woman has been a strange thing across time and cultures. As you well know, the resolve today, not of God, is to practice all of the facets of union and see how it works, take it for a test drive. Reason may suggest that process; however God does not. Nothing will endure in a marriage like the gift of God’s Spirit, a marriage was meant to triangulate God in the making. Some last without it, but a marriage that truly reflects the love of Christ for the church, needs both of those things. The reflection of a family will only show the nature of the people in it. We need the Spirit. Thanks Jennifer
twincitiesjim on May 26, 2017 at 9:53 am
Hi Jennifer: Your post today hits me in a very difficult place. 7 months ago my wife of 19 years succeeded in divorcing me despite many prayers for (and what I thought were messages of) restoration. I am in that place in life where I feel in limbo…My wife made a choice to deny God and to deny me. I pray for her salvation constantly, but I am in a place now (and have been for some time) where I am trying to determine what God wants me to do. I have 3 options. 1.) Restore the marriage (not under my control), 2.) Find someone else to share life with who loves Jesus as much as I do (only partially under my control), 3.) Stay single (mostly under my control). My heart really only wants option one or two, but one is the biggest desire. However, now I am at a point where I only want that if my wife were to come to faith and have a passion for things of God. I have heard so many horror stories of second marriages even among Christians that I am fearful of what that would mean and deep in my heart it doesn’t feel right. I have been praying for God to help me to be okay with being single and to make him be enough for me…. However my heart’s desire is to share life, and my faith, and the ups and downs of life with someone special… I have prayed for two years for God to change that heart’s desire to be only for him if I am meant to stay single, but still that is all I want. I guess I am not really sure of my point here. I do see the logic and wisdom of Paul’s statements and I have read those verses over and over during this trial, but yet they do not resonate with me. I do not know God’s plan. Life really is difficult when we are in limbo, but I have to just trust in him and not tie that trust to any specific outcome….