One of my biggest “missions” in life is that all people
(including myself) would experience more fully the transforming, healing and
restorative Love of God. That we would
turn our hearts toward Him and let His love in.
That we would say "yes" to being His bride.
God’s word talks about how He feels about His bride:
You have stolen my heart, my sister, my bride; you have stolen my heart with one glance of your eyes, with
one jewel of your necklace. Song of
Songs 4:9
As a young man marries a young woman, so will your Builder marry you;
as a bridegroom rejoices over
his bride, so will your God
rejoice over you. Isaiah 62:5
The bride belongs to the
bridegroom. The friend who
attends the bridegroom waits and
listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. John 3:29
Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the
Lamb has come, and his bride has
made herself ready. Revelation 19:7
It is a beautiful and critically important correlation for
God to describe His relationship with the church as a relationship between a
bridegroom and a bride.
When I think back on being a bride, I was over-the-top in
love with my (now) husband. He was my knight
in shining armor. We had a whirlwind romance. He wanted me so much
that he asked me – invited me – to marry him.
I was overjoyed to say “yes” and was blown away with the fact that he
wanted to spend the rest of his life with me.
What is amazing is that, for as much as I loved him then, I love him so
much more now. It is a deeper love, a
stronger love. One tried in the fire of
pressure and the mundane, time, aging, raising a child, dealing with the
disappointments and setbacks of life, dealing with and accepting growth and
change.
I think being a bride is really a process. And I wonder how often the Body of Christ identifies
with being the bride the way that I have just described it.
God wants a bride. He
is rescuing us. He is wooing us. He is inviting us to a marriage – an eternal
one, with eternity starting now. One
born out of, first, falling in love and then, forged in the fire of living life
and learning what it truly means to love and be loved.
As believers in Christ, I wonder how often we see that this
marriage relationship is THE priority with God.
How often do we get caught up in “priorities” -- good priorities, but
much lesser ones -- than simply being His bride. Who is
God towards His bride? What does His
bride look like? What is her heart towards
her Betrothed? What does she do, as
result of that experiential knowledge of the overflowing love of her Betrothed
towards her and all of His creation?
What is the business she is to concern herself with, in that role?
For starters, we need to see Jesus ‘ answer to the Pharisee,
an expert in the law, whose question to Him was “Teacher, which is the greatest
commandment in the Law?”:
Matthew 22:37-40
37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’[a] 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[b] 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Given the scriptures, as His bride, this really starts to address these questions I have posed. As a first and primary priority, are we FIRST pursuing the command to love the Lord our God with our whole being? And THEN, are we loving ourselves? AND, are we loving our neighbors? What does that love manifest as? What are our corresponding actions towards God, ourselves and others out of that love?
These questions and thoughts are meant to provoke my own
heart and those who read this to further ponder what it means to love and to be
about the business of “loving.” This is
an invitation to read God’s word, really meditate on it, linger in the
questions and wrestle with the answers.
Wrestling is good.
Jacob wrestled with God and wouldn’t let go until God blessed Him. And boy, did God bless him! For starters, God bestowed upon Him the name
Israel – one who contends with God.
Wrestling and contending – yeah, that sounds like a marriage
to me!
Peace and love.
