Where Faith Meets Trials

It’s amazing at how much power is in the Bible. Have you ever read a few books in it? It’s amazing at how one begins to feel something stir within their hearts when opening the Bible and going through the different characters, locations, letters and themes. An essential discipline to a growing Christian is spending time in the Word and allowing the Holy Spirit to convict, to inspire, to awe as one goes through the glorious book which God has given us.

With that being said, I was reading through 1 Corinthians 7 for my quiet time this morning. I had finished 2 Corinthians and thought, “I wonder if this has any ties with 1 Corinthians or if they’re two stand alone letters”. I decided to go through 1 Corinthians and see if there were any ties between the two and simply because I had never gone through the entire book of 1 Corinthians.

Today, I found myself in chapter 7. The chapter about marriage and living out your calling but the main focus, as one can see from reading the chapter, is marriage and singleness. As I read, it began to occur to me that Paul is not talking anything about a “chosen spouse”. He doesn’t hint at it either. With phrases such as “should not seek” would mean that we would be on a search for our spouse. We are the ones seeking them out. Does this imply that God has one waiting for us? Well, that’s where I hit a snag.

Now, this is just me slowly trying to wrap my mind around this chapter but consider this: what if God doesn’t necessarily have a chosen spouse for you? I don’t say that to discourage many of you but ask yourself: what is the ultimate priority for us here on this earth? To glorify God, right? To spread His message across the world. To go forth and make disciples. Yet, so often, I’m guilty of this too, we make an idol out of marriage and finding that future spouse that we will love and hold and spend our lives with and by doing this, we compromise our mission. We lose focus. We fall behind.

Then, what is it exactly I’m saying? At this point, I’m not even sure. Personally, I don’t want to be single. But, this life isn’t about what I want. And it’s not about what you want either. If God gives the go-ahead for us to marry, then yes, I think He will lead us to where we will meet a potential wife but is it predestined?

That is where I hit a wall and am still trying to process this. If I’ve confused you, I apologize but don’t be surprised because I have that effect; just ask my friends and those closest to me.

However, I would encourage you in this:

-Read 1 Corinthians 7

-Ask yourself, “What/who is my focus?”

-Pray

I’m not trying to discourage marriage or singleness. I’m just sharing my convictions in hopes that I’m not the only one going through this. Also, for those of us who are single, to set our minds on Heavenly things. Our mission is to spread God’s Word to the masses. If God wants us to be married then I’m sure He’ll lead us in that direction. To someone He’s set aside just for us? I don’t know. Is that where free will comes into play? Quite possibly. Either way, it’s our choice whether we will follow God or not. What happens along the way is up to Him.