START WITH SCRIPTURE:
1 Corinthians 7:29-31
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OBSERVE:
This passage is included in Paul’s ongoing advice to the new Christians in Corinth. He has been answering their questions about whether Christians should marry, whether a slave should seek freedom, etc.
And then he makes it clear that it would be in their best interests as Christians not to seek a change of status at all in light of the fact that the time is short. He presses the point home when he says:
the mode of this world passes away.
The firm belief of the Apostle Paul was that Jesus was going to return, and the world as they all knew it would be replaced and/or transformed. Therefore Christians should live with a sense of detachment from the things of this world.
His examples of detachment are concrete — marriage, emotions (weeping and rejoicing), and material possessions were all transitory, so the Christians should not put too much emphasis on them, nor rely on them in any way.
Some biblical scholars see this as a problem confronting the early church. The early Christians, they say, were expecting the imminent return of Christ. So the advice to live as though they were not married even though they were actually married, or to be unconcerned about buying or possessing things, was really quite practical if there was to be no tomorrow.
The problem, according to these scholars, is what is called “the delay of the parousia.” Parousia means the “coming” of Christ. If Jesus didn’t return, then living as though one didn’t have a family, or need any possessions or money could become a problem.
But see the following APPLY section for a possible solution to the problem.
APPLY:
The New Testament maintains two very important principles about the second coming of Jesus — one, that Jesus will come again at the end of the age; and two, nobody knows when.
Paul wasn’t claiming any “insider” information. He was simply advising the Corinthians to be careful about being overly attached to the things of this world.
This is actually good advice whether Jesus returns in the next five minutes or the next five centuries. The truth is that if Jesus doesn’t return in our lifetime, we will nevertheless face our own death at some point.
So, we can learn from his passage about the spiritual principle of detachment. Whether we marry, raise a family, have a good job, buy a house, have a healthy stock portfolio or not, none of those things is going to last. They are all temporary.
The only relationship that is in any way permanent is our relationship with God.
There is an expression that fits this reality — “whatever you have, hold it lightly.”
We don’t like to hear that. But every pastor knows, when he or she conducts a funeral, that everything the deceased has held and clung to and been attached to has been taken from them — except for their relationship with God, if our Gospel is true.
If we read Paul’s Epistles carefully, and what he says in this passage in the context of the larger body of the whole Scripture, no one could draw the conclusion that he is saying “leave your spouse” or “go live under a bridge.” Rather, he’s saying “don’t be so attached to what you have that you aren’t ready to let go. Don’t let a human relationship seduce you away from your relationship with God. Don’t let possessions possess you.”
Love your family. But love them for God’s sake and through God’s love. Use the possessions that are given you, but don’t let those possessions possess you, or become an idol.
RESPOND:
I have learned to say “you never know what a day is going to bring.” So I think it important to live in the moment, to love those around me; to use what I have received for good purposes. But I also know that I must not let those things keep me from doing what God commands. And I must always be ready to let those things go at a moment’s notice.
As a Methodist preacher, I’m reminded of the old saying a Methodist preacher must be ready to preach or to die at a moment’s notice.
Lord, every day is unpredictable. I don’t know what the future holds, but I trust that you hold the future. Prevent me from being attached to this world and the things of the world and allowing them to separate me from you. Amen.
PHOTOS:
“Corrie ten Boom – Hold everything in your hands lightly, otherwise it hurts when God pries your fingers open.” by Corrie ten Boom Museum is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic license.
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