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. But the married man is anxious about worldly things, how to please his wife, 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. 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.
The truth is, marriage is a lot of work. Paul is single and he is making an observation in the above passage that we need to be sure that we understand the obligation of those who are married vs those who are single, in regard to their serving the Lord. Single men and women, according to Paul, can fully focus on how to be serving to God in their holiness. By taking on the marriage bond, we must come to understand, that we, too, must serve God in holiness, but now we must also take into account the relationship we have with our spouse. Too, too, many marriages have been lost because the one, or the other, spouse has been so committed to the "church" (their visible commitment to Christ) they fail to keep their commitment to their spouse. Because they fail to keep their commitment to their spouse, God can't honor them in their commitment to their spouse and family. The balance of how we are to serve God in the Church and relate to our spouse in the home, is a very important aspect of Christian work and of the faith life. Paul takes this entire chapter in his letter to the Church at Corinth to emphasize this balance. He has earlier stated in this chapter that the failure to keep a good balance between the spouse and the responsibility to the spouse can result in undo and unnecessary temptation by Satan:
1 Corinthians 7:5
Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.
The marriage is strong when we follow God's teaching about marriage. When we get caught up in the affairs of the world, we can lose focus on our responsibility to God. When we get so caught up in the affairs of the world, to please our spouse (and, Paul makes it plan that IS a responsibility we have) we can lose our focus on our service to God. Paul states that there can be "anxieties" in all of this (see the first statement listed in the above). Paul wants us to be "free" from that anxiety. He states to be free from that "anxiety" we are to have good order and be free from restraint; we are free from restraint when we embrace Paul's teaching in this entire chapter on marriage, the marriage bond and our obligations to BOTH our spouse and our Lord. The truth is we have a responsibility to both. But, when we are serving God faithfully, we are serving our spouse properly. When we are serving our spouse properly we are honoring our God faithfully.
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