Marriage - An Earthly Treasure

      By Fern Horst

"Art thou bound unto a wife? seek not to be loosed. Art thou loosed from a wife? seek not a wife. But and if thou marry, thou hast not sinned; and if a virgin marry, she hath not sinned. Nevertheless such shall have trouble in the flesh: but I spare you. But this I say, brethren, the time is short: it remaineth, that both they that have wives be as though they had none; And they that weep, as though they wept not; and they that rejoice, as though they rejoiced not; and they that buy, as though they possessed not; And they that use this world, as not abusing it: for the fashion of this world passeth away." (I Corinthians 7:27-31)

These verses remind me once again that this earthly life is not my final destination. As a Christian the vast majority of my existence will be spent in another place - a place called Heaven. My life here is just a minuscule drop in the bucket compared to the time I'll spend in heaven for all eternity.

Jesus instructed His disciples to "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal" (Matthew 6:19-20). He wanted them - and us - to focus on those things which matter when we get to heaven, rather than those things which only matter to us while we're here.

One of those things - which we don't often think of as just temporary and earthly - is marriage. There is no doubt that it is a God-ordained institution designed by Him as the best possible environment for the raising of godly children. It is a good thing - for the husband, for the wife, and for the children. But it is a relationship and an institution just for this earthly life.

Jesus clarified this for us when the Sadducees asked him about a woman who had been widowed several times. They asked Jesus whose wife she would be in heaven. Jesus told them, "Do ye not therefore err, because ye know not the scriptures, neither the power of God? For when they shall rise from the dead, they neither marry, nor are given in marriage; but are as the angels which are in heaven" (Mark 12:25).

So what all does this mean for us still living on this earth? It means that we recognize marriage as a gift designed by Him to fulfill certain of His purposes that being single can't. It also means that we recognize singleness as a gift designed by Him to fulfill His purposes in ways that being married can't. And most significantly it means that in light of eternity it matters neither that we are married or single in this earthly life, but that we fulfill the will and purpose of the Creator who put us here, and with Whom we will live for all eternity.

When Paul wrote that they who have wives should live as though they don't, and those who don't have wives should not seek wives, I don't believe he meant that married men should neglect their wives and single men should never marry. Both conclusions would contradict the rest of Scripture. I do believe, however, that his emphasis was on the fact that our time here is short, and that whether married or single our focus should not be on our marital status but rather on those things which will last for all eternity.

How about it? If you listed those things which are most important to you - those things which are on your mind the majority of the time - would they be earthly or eternal treasures? As earthly beings it's a challenge to keep our focus where it should be, on eternal things. But that is the challenge that God gave us over and over in His Word. He knows far better than we do how long eternity will last. One hundred years from now you'll never regret that you stopped worrying about your marital status and instead focused on the work He has for you to do as a single! At that point, it will not matter to you one bit whether you were ever married or not. It will matter, however, how you lived your life - and whether or not you lived it for Him.

© 2006 Fern Horst

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