Live as though . . .

I was looking at some verses in 1 Corinthians 7 (29-32a). I have missed some meaning for years. I think I usually focus on the ideas about marriage that Paul is talking about. I saw these verses and wondered how does this work out in real life

The context is not really marriage, but how to be available for God. Paul suggested reducing our anxieties and there are four specific instructions.

*Those who are married should live as though they have no wife. It is not license to treat one's spouse indifferently or cruelly, but to put God first.

*Those who mourn should live as though they are not mourning. The nature of life in a broken world includes loss. It is a given. But they are not to overwhelm and distract us from the goal of knowing God and pursuing the gospel.

*Those who buy, as though they had no goods (did not possess them). In a consumer's world, how do we hold our possessions so loosely that we buy them, bring them home in a bag, put them in a closet and if someone else needs it, just give it away. Yesterday I was at Multnomah Falls (if you want to know what that is, do a search. I don't know how to add links yet). I had on some pink dangle earrings. A little girl, too young to wear these earrings said, "I like your earrings." I looked at her and her ears were not pierced, but I wondered, if someone older had said it, would I have just taken them off and said, "Here, they are yours." The stuff is for God's glory, too.

*Those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it.
The activities of the world are varied. Everyone is doing different stuff.
But these activities are not to be the substance of our life. The things that occupy our time and our talents and skills are not our identity, our joy, or our peace. They are not our salvation.