LOOSEN UP

“But this I say, brethren, the time is short, … the form of this world is passing away.”

(1 Corinthians 7:29, 31, selected)

In the seventh chapter of the first letter to the church in Corinth, Paul wrote a somewhat difficult to understand treatise that seems to randomly bounce all over the place. To understand it best, the essence of this passage is captured in the snippets of verses shown above. This passage is where we get the popular phrase “Hold lightly to the things of this world.” Because, as Paul says, “the form of this world is passing away.” In other words, loosen up your grip on the world.

Paul wrote this almost 2,000 years ago! He knew then that this world is passing away and wrote to believers they should not be too attached to things or behaviors in this world, because it would soon be gone. Well, here we are, two millennia later, and the form of this world is STILL passing away, though perhaps at a faster clip! Everywhere we look things are falling apart. Life is not the way we want it. And likely never will be again.

This world is fleeting. Always has been. Our lives here are a vapor (James 4:14) that disappears quickly. Don’t get too comfortable here. Don’t put your trust in the stuff you have, or the life you lead, or the things you do. Whether we are looking at the world through Paul’s eyes in the first century, or here in the twenty-first century, the truths are still the same. The form of this world is passing away. This is not our home. We are only passing through.

Loosen your grip on the things of this world. They won’t last. But you do have an eternity of awesome waiting for you if you know Jesus. Long for those things, not the things of this world which will soon pass away. Long for HIM! We should be willing to easily, even happily, part with the things and ways of this world and gladly exchange them for the ways of the world to come and the sweet presence of our Savior.

Our identity is not in stuff and show, but in the King of the Universe, our Bridegroom, who will return for us soon enough.