1 Corinthians 7:32-35
I want you to be free from anxieties. The unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to please the Lord. 33 But the married man is anxious about worldly things, how to please his wife, 34 and his interests are divided. And the unmarried or betrothed woman is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to be holy in body and spirit. But the married woman is anxious about worldly things, how to please her husband. 35 I say this for your own benefit, not to lay any restraint upon you, but to promote good order and to secure your undivided devotion to the Lord.
Paul makes a simple and valid point. When a person is not married, he or she can devote more time to the work of the Lord. I have known single people in educational ministry who are able to devote significant time to study and reading. There have been times when I have barely had time to read course textbooks let alone be researching into deeper topics. Being a husband and father takes significant time, effort, and investment. I would not trade this. The relationships I have with my family are deep, significant, and life changing. Paul is advocating singlehood in order to give more devotion to the Lord. The amazing thing about love is that we can keep giving more. As we give more love to God, we find we can give more love to our families.
The key idea here is priorities. How do we spend our time? What captures our hearts? Even though a spouse and children are of high priority, they do not trump our love for God. In some situations, it is not hard to allow our spouse to become our idol and take away our love and commitment to God. If this happens, we not only hurt our relationship with God, but eventually, our relationship with our spouse will deteriorate. The best way to have strong relationship with our family is to start with a strong relationship with God.
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