32-35I want you to live as free of complications as possible. When you're unmarried, you're free to concentrate on simply pleasing the Master. Marriage involves you in all the nuts and bolts of domestic life and in wanting to please your spouse, leading to so many more demands on your attention. The time and energy that married people spend on caring for and nurturing each other, the unmarried can spend in becoming whole and holy instruments of God. I'm trying to be helpful and make it as easy as possible for you, not make things harder. All I want is for you to be able to develop a way of life in which you can spend plenty of time together with the Master without a lot of distractions. (The Message)
For those who choose to be unmarried Paul suggests it is a way for them to draw close to God without the daily requirements of domestic life. But tucked in this passage is a hint about the married life that is worth paying attention to. Paul comments that those who are married spend time and energy caring for and nurturing one another. It seems to me that this is something that should not be quickly glossed over. Paul's expectation is that a married couple will devote themselves to one another and that is a good things.
There are times when the church has gotten in the way of the primary relationship that a couple might inter into before God as they share the covenant of marriage. In fact there are times when a person might say that they need to devote more time to their faith then they do to their spouse. To these Paul would raise a warning and suggest that faith is not to be used as an excuse for drifting away from a spouse. In these days of business, temptation, and overwork the marriage commitment needs to be reexamined. Paul would say that for those who are married it is the marriage itself that might provide the way of life to draw closer to God and that it should not be ignored for the sake of seeking God else where.
Some thoughts to ponder and share with others:
- What do you think Paul saw as the benefits of marriage? The drawbacks?
- Do you think Paul's experience as a single person impacted the way he viewed marriage? Why or why not?
- If you are married how does your marriage draw you closer to God?
- If you are married how might you give more energy and time to caring for and nurturing your spouse?
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