31. Those who use the things of the world should live as if those things are not important to them. You should live like this, because this world, the way it is now, will soon be gone.
32. I want you to be free from worry. A man who is not married is busy with the Lord’s work. He is trying to please the Lord.
33. But a man who is married is busy with things of the world. He is trying to please his wife.
34. He must think about two things—pleasing his wife and pleasing the Lord. A woman who is not married or a girl who has never married is busy with the Lord’s work. She wants to give herself fully—body and soul—to the Lord. But a married woman is busy with things of the world. She is trying to please her husband.
35. I am saying this to help you. I am not trying to limit you. But I want you to live in the right way. And I want you to give yourselves fully to the Lord without giving your time to other things.
36. A man might think that he is not doing the right thing with the girl he is engaged to. The girl might be almost past the best age to marry. So he might feel that he should marry her. He should do what he wants. They should get married. It is no sin.
37. But another man might be more sure in his mind. There may be no need for marriage, so he is free to do what he wants. If he has decided in his own heart not to marry, he is doing the right thing.
38. So the man who marries his girl does right. And the man who does not marry does even better.
39. A woman must stay with her husband as long as he lives. If the husband dies, she is free to marry any man she wants. But she must marry another believer.