Scott Hubbard wrote an article, The Spiritual Power of Staying Put: Why Christians Are Slow to Leave, related to our passage in 1 Corinthians 7:17-40 today.
Perhaps the Bible’s most explicit teaching about staying and going appears in 1 Corinthians 7:17–24, where Paul three times counsels the Corinthian believers to remain where they are:
Only let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him. (verse 17)
Each one should remain in the condition in which he was called. (verse 20)
So, brothers, in whatever condition each was called, there let him remain with God. (verse 24)
Now, Paul wrote these words into a context quite different from our own. Some Corinthian believers, it seems, wondered if becoming a Christian necessitated a change in life status. Does Christian faithfulness require the uncircumcised to receive circumcision, or bondservants to seek freedom? Paul, while endorsing helpful life changes (1 Corinthians 7:21), nevertheless reassures the church that they can serve Jesus fruitfully wherever they’re found. So, three times he says, “Stay.”
Our own impulses toward moving or changing may come from different motives, but the principles Paul uses still apply. Consider, then, three steps the apostle might counsel us to take before uprooting from job, home, church, or other life situations.
1. Pay attention to providence.
2. See the potential in your present place.
3. Live where you are with God.
Knowing God through His Word ... Day by Day 