I Corinthians 7:32-35 – Freely devote to the Lord

In verse 32, when Paul told them that he wanted them to be free from concern, what did he mean? Was he asking them to live a carefree life and have no concern for anything at all? Of course not! Paul was still referring to the crisis that they were going through and he did not want what was happening to cause them to compromise on their service to God.

 

Paul wanted them to see that when facing persecution and financial predicament, the freedom from family encumbrance would give an unmarried person the liberty to focus his concern on his service to the Lord. His point was that a married person had to consider about the affair of the family. This did not mean that he would be a second class Christian. But if put side by side, a single person has less to be concerned about. A married person would have more to consider than a single, hence, he would not be as free to serve the Lord in the midst of crises. We all know that it would be wrong for married people to neglect their family.  Paul here is stating a practical issue i.e. a married person would have divided interest.

 

Bear in mind that Paul’s advice here is not for the married to become unmarried. Here he was addressing the singles, particularly single women and virgins. He wrote to elicit their complete and total devotion to the Lord even though they were facing a crisis. He told them that as singles they could give their unremitting devotion to serve the Lord. Whereas a married woman would also have their family and husband to attend to.

Paul was not making any spiritual comparison between singlehood and being married. He didn’t say that a single is more superior to the married, spiritually. He was not even saying married people can contribute less to the Lord because that would run counter to his teaching elsewhere about family life. He was seeking to secure the devotion of the singles for the Lord. It’s naiveté to think that just being single would automatically free one from concern and his or her energy would be translated into entire devotion to the Lord. Singles do have their heartaches, tension, loneliness, rejection, frustration, etc. Hence, Paul had to urge them focus on giving their devotion to the Lord.

 

What we should seriously seek to do is this - stay devoted to the Lord, single or married! The Lord should be our first concern and not our last option. Definitely not only when all other things in life are done and when we have some left over time. Single or married, the Lord’s promise applies. We are to seek first the Kingdom of God and all the things we need in life will be added to us.