Here Comes the Bride

It has been way too long- life has been really busy- Acl surgery… recovery…Texas trip… weddings… my grandmother passed away… ah!  I apologize for keeping my thoughts selfishly all to me and say thank you to my friend who called me out on not writing for a while. I appreciate that someone reads and looks forward to the crazy thoughts God gives me when I give Him the time to slow my life and listen (I’m sure he has tons more to share).

This post is wedding themed.  It has been a theme of the year really… I found myself at one of my male friends weddings this spring.  It was so much fun!  While I did not know the bride, I was really excited for both of them because I knew what a solid man my friend is, what a great husband he would be, and because I saw a small glimpse of his excitement for this girl at the beginning of their relationship… He is a man of God and someone whom I know was seeking a girl to pursue and love God alongside through life. 

As we were awaiting the ceremony and guests were filing in, I got to thinking… 

[Background- I love how marriage is an amazing institution from God which represents Christ (the groom) and his bride (the church) (see Ephesians 5: 25-33 below) so that is usually something on my mind, at weddings especially] 

In the same way that I was excited for my friend and trusted the bride he had chosen because I know his character- that is how we as a church should feel every time someone accepts Christ.  Whether we know the individual or not, It is as if we are at Christ’s wedding- we know him, the groom. We know who he is and how he loves because as the church we are his bride and already experience it.  How excited are you to know that this person gets to now experience that overwhelming patient, joyous, all-encompassing, unfailing, compassionate love? We should be STOKED! That must be why the angels have a party every time a lost sheep is found! (Luke 15)

When we get to experience someone accepting him into their lives it is like being at a wedding where you know the groom and are so excited because you know how wonderful he is and how blessed that bride is going to be.  We can delight because we know that Jesus has chosen them- and because we love him we too can rejoice in his choice. His bride gets to have the ultimate groom for eternity- not just an earthly lifetime.  How delightful is that- and what a great reminder weddings are of the love that God has for us.  It makes my heart smile just thinking about it and humbled that such a perfect groom would choose us, such imperfect and broken brides.

Ephesians 5:25-33

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church— for we are members of his body. “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.