May 14th Follow-up

Sunday Follow-up
1 Corinthians 7 – “A proper perspective of marriage”

If you are a young unmarried person, you need to be praying for your future spouse. If you have been divorced, learn from your mistakes and try again. If you are a widow, give yourself time to heal and start the search again. This is the wrong kind of thinking some have. If you are not married, should one assume that it is God’s will for you to be married?

When Paul was called to serve as an Apostle, he was also called to a life of an unmarried person. With that calling came an enabling to live an unmarried life without the struggles with sexual temptation. We know that Paul undertook 3 long mission trips that were filled with dangers and other various trials. These were trips that Paul would not have undertaken had he been married.

This gave Paul a unique perspective of how God can use an unmarried person who is sold out to Him. It was not Paul’s intent to convey that being unmarried was better than being married. But being unmarried does offer certain advantages that those who are married don’t have. You have greater freedom most of the time to serve the Lord in ways that you might not otherwise be able to if you were married.

Don’t misunderstand, marriage is a blessing from God. My wife and I will be married 35 years this year. These have been 35 years of blessing with no regrets. But it has not always been easy.  There has been a lot of growing and learning as well as a lot of mistakes made. But a life of marriage is what God had called my wife and me to. I am thankful for that.

The question is not whether marriage is better than being unmarried or vice versa. The real question is – “what is better for you?” The short answer is, what kind of life has God called you to at this moment? Whatever that is, be at peace with that until God chooses to change your marital status.