6
I'm not, understand, commanding these periods of abstinence - only providing my best counsel if you should choose them.
7
Sometimes I wish everyone were single like me - a simpler life in many ways! But celibacy is not for everyone any more than marriage is. God gives the gift of the single life to some, the gift of the married life to others.
8
I do, though, tell the unmarried and widows that singleness might well be the best thing for them, as it has been for me.
9
But if they can't manage their desires and emotions, they should by all means go ahead and get married. The difficulties of marriage are preferable by far to a sexually tortured life as a single.
10
And if you are married, stay married. This is the Master's command, not mine.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.