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.
Our world can often feel like it's moving at 100 miles per hour, so let us take a moment to pause, reflect, and be refreshed by God's word each day. All Salvos are welcome to access and utilise the resources on this Soul Space page. Each week there will be a new weekly theme for you to engage with.
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.
Paul writes a lengthy dissertation to the church of Corinth on ‘the matters you wrote about’, he opens with in verse one of the chapter.
Throughout the following forty verses, he address matters of relationships in many forms. We can devise from faithful commentaries, like those of Matthew Henry on the subject, that ‘The apostle comes now, as a faithful and skilful casuist, to answer some cases of conscience which the Corinthians had proposed to him.’
A casuist is someone who makes a ‘case study’ of particular problems in order to resolve them, based on similar moral or theological principles. In fact, Paul repeatedly uses the words to different scenarios throughout the chapter, ‘I say this (I, not the Lord)’
Paul addresses what new converts should do within marriage, virgins (single people), widows, those who are facing divorce, separation, celibacy, lust… all types and forms of couplings and circumstances of the Corinthians reality and their urgent questioning of what is to be done!
But perhaps a most crucial verse is found within almost the exact centre of the chapter, ‘Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing. Keeping God’s commands is what counts.”
1 Corinthians 7:19 NIV
Living in a right way, with an undivided heart. Many who have felt othered, decentred in church community or wrestling through their own identity as a single person have held fast to Paul’s words, “I wish that all of you were as I am. But each of you has your own gift from God; one has this gift, another has that.”
1 Corinthians 7:6-7 NIV
Paul truly saw and named his being single and unmarried as a unique gift. Why? Because of the wholehearted nature of his devotion. For many who are married, reading this exaltation of the single-heartedness that Paul says only those who are single may possess might even cause us offence or consternation - but we must still ourselves, in humility, and look at their gift rather than covet.
How might we learn from them? What does Jesus say through their lives and networks? How are we making room for their expression of grace, their fears and hopes, their needs and communion within our congregations? In all things, it is doing the will of God that matters. Let our relationships with one another, the Body, be truly an example of Christ.
Pray and discern: Paul speaks of the "undivided devotion" of single persons. How are we honouring this unique mantle and gift of single people in our churches?
Tanya’s story is one of great courage and unwavering faith. Born into challenging circumstances, Tanya has never let her physical disabilities define her. Overcoming many challenges at school and then more barriers at university, Tanya has shown that we should never place limits on people with a disability. Tanya says that she leans on the people who love her. One of her favourite Bible verses is Joshua 24:15, “As for me and my house, I will serve the Lord.” She says that these words are the building blocks of her life.
Jesus, we move with you. We make room for you. Thank you for the blessing of community and unity. Help me to see and value those who are single as you do, and as you yourself were. Help me to feel supported and support others in turn in this network of love.