Remain

By Joey Carroll

There is a truth in the Bible that we have largely ignored for the last 100 years or so. It is found in a verse that sits in the very center of the story of Jonah. It says, “…Salvation is of the LORD,” (Jonah 2:9, KJV). If you are familiar with that great Old Testament story, you know well that God not only saved the skin of a rebellious prophet, but He also accomplished the salvation for an entire generation of terrible people known as the Ninevites. Today, many have the idea that God has done all that He is going to do in order to save us. They think He sits idly by, now waiting for us to do our part. But salvation is totally of the Lord from beginning to end. And if we would pray, preach, and patiently wait on the Spirit to do what only the Spirit of God can do, we would see the difference between someone converted by men and someone converted by God.

God is sovereign over every aspect of salvation, even the moment when we are saved. Over the last 33 years of ministry, I have heard and seen a great many conversions of all ages and in all circumstances of life. From VBS to family vacations, from some using drugs in hotel rooms to others sitting on pews at church, from the workplace to the roadside, from being the first believer in a family to being the last, I have seen God interrupt every season of life in almost every circumstance of life with His grace. He does what He wants, when He wants, and how He wants. And there is a reason behind every age and every circumstance because He is the One who “works all things after the counsel of His will,” (Ephesians 1:11, NASB).

What does this have to do with the difficult subjects in 1 Corinthians 7? Paul had seen many come to faith in the city of Corinth, and some of them came to faith in bizarre circumstances. One of the more common circumstances was having been married. In some cases, only the husband or wife had believed in Christ, and not both, which left a relationship between a believer and an unbeliever. While we are instructed by God to avoid this situation (see 2 Corinthians 6:14-15), it could not be avoided at Corinth since the Gospel was preached to them after they had already been married.

Some of the new believers thought it would be best to divorce the unbelieving spouse. But if you have read enough of the Bible to know what God thinks of divorce, you already know Paul’s response to that bad idea, which was a hard “NO.” God hates divorce, and if you have ever been through a divorce, I am quite sure you hate it too.

Even though there are many difficult situations like this that Paul deals with in 1 Corinthians 7, he uses the same principle for them all. The principle is to “remain.” In fact, Paul uses that word five times in this chapter. The truth being taught is this: God is sovereign. He knows full well the circumstances that were going on in your life when He called you by name and saved you. In fact, He wanted you where you were in life when He called you. Therefore, trust His plan and do not turn to your own. I think it is most clearly expressed in 1 Corinthians 7:24, “Brethren, each one is to remain with God in that condition in which he was called,” (NASB).

Why would God want a marriage to continue when only one in the marriage belonged to Him? The answer is given. “For how do you know, O wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, O husband, whether you will save your wife?” (7:16, NASB.) What better opportunity could we have than to model Christ to someone we love so dear as our spouse? May all unbelievers have someone in their lives so committed to modeling Christ to them.

But as it turns out, God has a purpose for every person He saves – that they might take advantage of the circumstances in which they were called and open their mouths to praise the Lord and preach the only message that saves – the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

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This article originally appeared in The Clarion Newspaper.