1 Corinthians 7:29-31
Philosopher Alain de Botton has characterized much of the pressure and anxiety members of industrialized Western societies feel as a function of our mad quest for finding recognition by the world, which we think we can get from our acquisition of power, influence, wealth, and things (Status Anxiety). Botton also notes that once we have acquired or achieved something our levels of happiness begin to decline (Ibid., pp. 196-197). The French philosopher Blaise Pascal had it right. We are unhappy because deep down we realize that the present pleasures are false and the pleasures for which we yearn are vain (Pensees, p. 49). In face of these realizations, Paul urges us to avoid getting caught up in the things of the world. Martin Luther provides reflections reminding us that the eternal blessing that is ours in faith entails we need not get too caught up on the things of the world:
This is the general teaching for all Christians, that they should treasure that eternal blessing which is theirs in the faith, despising this life so that they do not sink too deeply into it either with love and desire or suffering and boredom, but should rather behave like guests on earth, using everything for a short time because of need and not just for pleasure.
(Luther’s Works, Vol. 28, p. 52)
When the things of the present (like marriage, wealth, power) are not about owning them, just good things to share, then like John Calvin we can say:
Hence, it is not without good reason, that the apostle, with the view of arousing us from this stupidity, calls us to consider the shortness of life, and infers from this, that we ought to use all the things of this world, as if we did not use them. For the man who considers that he is a stranger in the world uses the things of this world as if they were another’s ? that is, as things lent to us for a single day.
(Calvin’s Commentaries, Vol. XX/1, p. 257)
Mark E.
