1 Cor 7:25-31 / Lk 6:20-26
Today’s epistle is something of a curiosity in that it shows St Paul seriously taking for granted something that just wasn’t true, namely, that the end of the world was just around the corner. On the basis of that assumption, Paul advised his listeners to stand pat wherever they were and to use the time remaining to get ready for Christ’s coming.
The Old and New Testaments are filled with false assumptions that came from the current culture, but they shouldn’t un-nerve us. They are passive elements of the scriptures which the various authors simply took for granted. They weren’t actively taught as religious truths any more than Genesis set out to give us an accurate calendar for the creation of the universe.
So, looking past his false assumption, we focus on what Paul was actively teaching in today’s epistle: Keep your eyes on the Lord and let nothing distract you. In the end, everything else will pass away except the Lord and his big family, and the success or failure of our lives will be measured in the simplest of terms: Were we grateful for life and faithful to the Lord’s gifts; and with loving hearts did we carry them to those for whom they were intended? That’s all that ever mattered, and it’s all that matters now!
