1 Corinthians 7: 25-31
Brothers
and sisters:
In regard to virgins, I have no commandment from the Lord,
but I give my opinion as one who by the Lord’s mercy is trustworthy.
So this is what I think best because of the present distress:
that it is a good thing for a person to remain as he is.
Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek a separation.
Are you free of a wife? Then do not look for a wife.
If you marry, however, you do not sin,
nor does an unmarried woman sin if she marries;
but such people will experience affliction in their earthly life,
and I would like to spare you that.
I tell you, brothers, the time is running out.
From now on, let those having wives act as not having them,
those weeping as not weeping,
those rejoicing as not rejoicing,
those buying as not owning,
those using the world as not using it fully.
For the world in its present form is passing away.
In regard to virgins, I have no commandment from the Lord,
but I give my opinion as one who by the Lord’s mercy is trustworthy.
So this is what I think best because of the present distress:
that it is a good thing for a person to remain as he is.
Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek a separation.
Are you free of a wife? Then do not look for a wife.
If you marry, however, you do not sin,
nor does an unmarried woman sin if she marries;
but such people will experience affliction in their earthly life,
and I would like to spare you that.
I tell you, brothers, the time is running out.
From now on, let those having wives act as not having them,
those weeping as not weeping,
those rejoicing as not rejoicing,
those buying as not owning,
those using the world as not using it fully.
For the world in its present form is passing away.
For a Christian sex is reserved for marriage. Marriage is
a vocation, a calling. For too many, marriage is a rite of passage, something
they must and are expected to do. Few begin by asking the question, “Is God
calling me to marriage?”
The first purpose of marriage is to reproduce. God wishes
to fill heaven with his children and he chooses to do this with the cooperation
of man. He calls man to a marriage vocation with the intention of extending the
heavenly family. Godly vocations do fail but they fail at a much lower rate
than a manly vocation. God gives sacramental marriages special grace.
The devil also calls man to vocations. The devil calls
men into non-sacramental marriages. The devil wants marriages to fail. He wants
marriages to be unfruitful. He wants marriages closed to life and ones who will
murder their children still in the womb.
Saint Paul tells us that it is better for us to stay in
the condition we are in; virgins should remain virgin and married should remain
married. We should only enter into a vocation if the vocation is from God, not
from the devil or one of our own choosing.
This world is passing away. It is not coming to an end.
The Kingdom of God is at hand. In other words the royal nature of God is with
us now. As adopted children of God we have inherited his royal nature. We are
not called to live as this world lives. We are called to live as Jesus lived.
In that manner, the world as it is has come to an end for the Christian and we
live in the world as God wants us to.
No comments:
Post a Comment