In the NT church in Corinth there was this crazy, almost American, unsettledness that caused the members to think that the ideal spiritual life was...somewhere else. That is, if they were unmarried, marriage would be the entryway to a spiritual Eden. If they were married, especially to an unbeliever, the single life was the way up and in. If they were slaves...get free or remain a spiritual pygmy. Underneath it all there seemed to be this thought, not at all foreign to ME, that they could not realize the true freedom in Christ which was their lot unless their situation changed.
The Apostle Paul answers that thinking with a clear, settling, God-centered view of WHERE I AM:
"...Let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him." 1Corinthians 7:17
Married or unmarried, working for someone else or self-employed, kids at home or empty-nester, senior citizen or teenager, college-degreed or street-smart, physically handicapped or tri-athlete, raised up in a godly home or a child of abuse, in an apartment or my own home, in the perfect church or a Corinthian-like mess, tight finances or picking fruit daily from the money tree...
The ultimate reason we are where we are is...the Lord. He has "assigned" us and "called" us to the place in life we occupy. Note: HE has assigned us and called us to this place. Not fate or chance or stupid choices (though there may have been plenty of them!!) or discrimination or Satanic evil. Why has He assigned us this place? That we may learn to walk with Him HERE, in humility and dependence. "So, brothers, in whatever condition each was called, there let him remain WITH GOD." 1 Corinthians 7:24
If God has assigned me this place then it is a place where GOD IS. It is a place where I can thrive spiritually and walk with Him. It is a place where all the promises of God apply. It is a place where the Holy Spirit of God will fill me with His fruit and gifts and help. It is a place where my cries to God will be heard as well as any other place on earth. It may NOT be EASY, but easy is not the way to spiritual growth.
May the Lord who assigns and calls to THIS PLACE free me to pursue Him NOW and HERE, believing that the grass is not greener on the other side of the fence. May He free me to take my eyes off of whoever or whatever I have charged with my stunted spiritual life and set them resolutely on Him. HE IS THE GREEN GRASS, wherever I am.
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