“The Gift,” Part 4: The Point

Well, I think it’s about time we put this thing to rest:

“This is what I mean, brothers: the appointed time has grown very short. From now on, let those who have wives live as though they had none, and 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 goods, and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the present form of this world is passing away.” – 1 Corinthians 7:29-31

It’s not in every passage that we have the luxury of Paul interpreting Paul, but here in 1 Corinthians, he does just that. After saying that he would rather spare people the troubles of being married, he anticipates the backlash (which there is no shortage of 2000 years later), pauses and says “this is what I mean.” And this is his point: there isn’t much time left.

There isn’t much time left, and we really need to focus on what’s important. And what’s chiefly important isn’t family, it isn’t finding the love of your life and settling down. What’s important is Jesus.

And if you get married, that’s fine, but you better serve Jesus with so much of your energy that it’s like you weren’t married. In fact, everything you do should be so centered on him, that it seems like you’re not really doing the things (buying, owning, grieving, rejoicing) themselves, but that you’re serving Jesus as these things happen to happen. Paul’s goal isn’t divided lives, it’s unified hearts. By talking to us about the earthly thing that matters most and saying that it’s not all that great, he’s trying to turn our eyes towards the fact that this world and all the things that go with it, like marriage, isn’t going to be around for much longer, and the things that you have here won’t really matter much in a little while.

There’s an old saying (though not quite so old) that goes like this, “Only one life, ’twill soon be past; Only what’s done for Christ will last.”
That’s what Paul’s saying in all this. Our eyes should be on Christ, and we should get to distracted by the baubles the world flashes at us. The present form of this world is passing away. All those things are fading and will soon be gone. They don’t, ultimately, matter. What matters is whether or not you’ve been wholly devoted to the Lord. And a spouse is distracting. So if you can, try to serve Him wholeheartedly. If you can’t, find a way to serve in the distraction.

Because in this, we have not only the point of singleness or marriage; we have the point of our lives.
So let’s realize that the time left has grown very short. Let’s stick to the point. Let’s devote ourselves to Christ.

-djstevens