Note 19 at 1 Cor. 7:16: Paul expresses the reason why he believes staying with the unsaved mate is so important. It is because you may lead him or her to faith in Christ. Sad to say, this would not be high on the list of reasons for many Christians today, but it should be.

When we look at things through the light of God's priorities, the eternal spiritual matters are infinitely more important than all the temporal things that we hold so dear. As Jesus said, "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends" (Jn. 15:13). Surely, a Christian laying aside his or her own desires to remain with a lost mate in hopes of seeing that mate saved, would be one of the greatest expressions of a Christ-like love.

This line of reasoning is not very popular in our self-centered generation. "What about my rights?" someone would say. And that is precisely the problem. The root of most divorces is selfishness. If we would seriously think about what our actions are doing to our mate, our children, our parents, our friends, our witness, and our society, Christians would not be so quick to choose divorce.

It is time for Christians to resign from the "me generation." We need to pull our thumbs out of our mouths and grow up. It's time to think of someone else more than ourselves.

Note 20 at 1 Cor. 7:16: It is very interesting the way Paul states the possibilities of the unbelieving mate coming to the Lord. He is saying, it might happen and it might not. This is radically different than the way some people preach praying for your mate.

Some people have mistakenly interpreted passages of scripture like Acts 16:31 to say that we can "claim" our loved ones for Christ and they will get saved regardless. That is not so (see note 4 at Acts 16:31, p. 671). One of the most sacred trusts that God gave man is the right to choose. God will protect that right regardless of the consequences.

People must come to faith in Christ through their own choice. We can certainly encourage them and do battle with the spiritual powers that blind them (2 Cor. 4:4), but the choice is theirs. A failure to understand this has caused many godly Christians to feel like failures because their lost mates have not been born again. Certainly, this was not the attitude Paul had here.