November 11, 2014
Today’s reading from Encounter with God

Stay Focused

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Opening Prayer

Holy God, show me Your mercy and forgive my sin today so that I may come to You and Your Word with a clean heart.

Read 1 Corinthians 7:25-40

[25] Now about virgins: I have no command from the Lord, but I give a judgment as one who by the Lord’s mercy is trustworthy. [26] Because of the present crisis, I think that it is good for a man to remain as he is. [27] Are you pledged to a woman? Do not seek to be released. Are you free from such a commitment? Do not look for a wife. [28] But if you do marry, you have not sinned; and if a virgin marries, she has not sinned. But those who marry will face many troubles in this life, and I want to spare you this. [29] What I mean, brothers and sisters, is that the time is short. From now on those who have wives should live as if they do not; [30] those who mourn, as if they did not; those who are happy, as if they were not; those who buy something, as if it were not theirs to keep; [31] those who use the things of the world, as if not engrossed in them. For this world in its present form is passing away. [32] I would like you to be free from concern. An unmarried man is concerned about the Lord’s affairs-how he can please the Lord. [33] But a married man is concerned about the affairs of this world-how he can please his wife- [34] and his interests are divided. An unmarried woman or virgin is concerned about the Lord’s affairs: Her aim is to be devoted to the Lord in both body and spirit. But a married woman is concerned about the affairs of this world-how she can please her husband. [35] I am saying this for your own good, not to restrict you, but that you may live in a right way in undivided devotion to the Lord. [36] If anyone is worried that he might not be acting honorably toward the virgin he is engaged to, and if his passions are too strong and he feels he ought to marry, he should do as he wants. He is not sinning. They should get married. [37] But the man who has settled the matter in his own mind, who is under no compulsion but has control over his own will, and who has made up his mind not to marry the virgin-this man also does the right thing. [38] So then, he who marries the virgin does right, but he who does not marry her does better. [39] A woman is bound to her husband as long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she is free to marry anyone she wishes, but he must belong to the Lord. [40] In my judgment, she is happier if she stays as she is-and I think that I too have the Spirit of God.

Scripture taken from the THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, NIV Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Reflect

“Your face, Lord, I will seek” (Psa. 27:8b). Take time to turn from everything else and seek the Lord’s face.

Did Paul think the coming again of the Lord Jesus was imminent? It seems clear he did. Was he wrong? Or should it be the church’s normal stance, in every age and at all times, to live and work not knowing the day or the hour of Christ’s coming and therefore continually living in the light of that day and the passing away of this world (31)? The fact that we have largely forgotten this mandate and some of the urgency of evangelism is an indictment on us, not on the apostle’s wrongheadedness.

Marriage is a good gift from God, but it can distract from the key priority of the “Lord’s affairs” (32,34). It is not wrong to marry but neither should we assume it as a right. Some will embrace the cost of singleness for the kingdom although, as Jesus stated, “Not everyone can accept this word” (Matt. 19:11). It is hugely costly, but many ministries (like Scripture Union) clearly demonstrate the quite remarkable “undivided devotion” (35) provided by single people (in many instances women). You can probably think of numerous examples of single people who have devoted huge amounts of time and energy over many years in the acknowledgment that they were able to do so because of their singleness.

The challenge of singleness is the challenge of single-mindedness–which applies to all, whether married, divorced, widowed or single. Paul lists some things that absorb our time and effort, make us inward-looking and tie us to this world (29-31). He includes retail therapy (30); today, shopping online, at the mall, for cars, clothes or vacations, occupies massive amounts of our time and money. What if we saw shopping in the light of Jesus’ coming, and truly saw that our possessions are not ours to keep (30)?

Apply

When did you last contemplate the coming again of the Lord Jesus? Make this the first of many days in which you choose to focus on it.

Closing prayer

Father God, so often I tend to focus on what I don’t have rather than on what You have given me. Help me to stay focused on Your grace and gifts to me.

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