‘Yet I would that all men were even as I myself. However each man has his own gift from God, one after this manner and one after that.'
His own predisposition is, for those who have the gift like he has (‘I would that all men were even as I, gifted to remain unmarried') to favour being unmarried, because that way a person can give themselves full time to the direct service of God, but he recognises that different people have differing gifts and many do not have the gift of celibacy, while others do not have the gift of marriageability. This is not their fault. Each have their own gifts and must direct their lives accordingly. Thus both the celibate and the married ways of life result from God's gift. Men actually do not choose which they are destined to be. It depends on how they have been gifted. No man can be seen as more spiritual or less spiritual because of how they have previously been gifted. That is God's choice not man's.
In referring to gifts we must not see these as ‘spiritual gifts'. They are in fact very much fleshly (in the best sense) gifts. They are gifts, but they are the basic ‘gifts' of how a man or woman is physically made, although enhanced by strength received from God. Paul is very conscious that his own life has been under God's surveillance from start to finish and he can thus speak of ‘gifts' given in readiness for being converted.