One of a Kind Marriage, Part 2
In my last Blog, I encouraged you that Christ is your Husband and we are His Bride. Jesus pursues us actively securing a lasting intimate relationship with us. And yet even in God’s stubborn love for us in our marriage with Christ, we still struggle with other loves in our lives.
Here the Apostle Paul reminds in 2 Corinthian 11:3:
3 But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.
How do we struggle to desire and love Christ in this sacred marriage?
Paul fears and rightly so that the Corinthians will be seduced to unfaithfulness by other false loves. Their past has proven his concern. They had allowed other things (e.g., pride, sexual immorality, forsaking the poor) to lead them astray from a growing relationship with Jesus.
He reminds them of the Fall when Satan tempted Eve and she was deceived. When her heart desired the fruit more than God, she lost and left her first love and turned to other things to make her complete and satisfied. She began to doubt God’s goodness and truth and this led her to replace God with other things—to be like God, gain knowledge, and experience “true happiness.” You can see the affects of Eve leaving the Lover of her soul— she hides and blames others for her sin. She now gets her satisfaction from loving other things rather than God.
We do not have to stop with Eve. Throughout Biblical history God’s people have struggled to remain faithful, chaste, and pure to their covenant vows to God. Here these graphic descriptions of God’s people unfaithfulness to their marriage to Christ found in Scripture:
“If a man divorces his wife and she goes from him and becomes another man's wife, will he return to her? Would not that land be greatly polluted? You have played the whore with many lovers; and would you return to me? declares the LORD." (Jeremiah 3:1)
15 “But you trusted in your beauty and played the whore (were unfaithful) because of your renown and lavished your whorings (unfaithfulness) on any passerby; your beauty became his. 16 You took some of your garments and made for yourself colorful shrines, and on them played the whore (were unfaithful). The like has never been, nor ever shall be. (Ezekiel 16:15-16)
12 My people inquire of a piece of wood, and their walking staff gives them oracles. For a spirit of whoredom has led them astray, and they have left their God to play the whore. (Hosea 4:12)
In these passages, God is denouncing their unfaithfulness to Him as spiritual adultery. Paul warns the Corinthian church and us of a similar struggle in this passage. We will commit spiritual adultery.
In fact, we need to know what may lead our hearts astray. For we are tempted and often times give into the temptation of being unfaithful to God and committing spiritual adultery.
God knows that we can and will be deceived like Eve, and to love other things more than God. Often these other things drive us away from our marriage with Christ. Seeking comfort, peace, power and position are such competing lovers. Our obsession with our reputation, respect and approval interferes with our relationship with Jesus, and they become more meaningful to us than Jesus. Our pursuit of career, possessions, physical health, strength, and obedient children can also lead us astray from the One who loves us completely and thoroughly. Not that any of those things are evil or wrong in themselves. But when we allow ourselves to be ruled by them more than Jesus and his love, then we will become complacent and unmoved by our Husband and his pursuing and stubborn love.
Friends, I know that this is true. One such competing love in my relationship with Jesus is my obsession with order and respect. If the house doesn’t look a certain way and I am not resting in Jesus and his love for me, I can become angry with my wife and children and say things that are manipulating and hurtful to get my way. What’s going on? I fear that they are not respecting me when they don’t keep the house in order. Because I find more value and satisfaction in an ordered house than in Jesus and all that he has provided me in the gospel, I show what I am really loving, serving and worshipping—myself.
Every false love promises to free us so that we finally feel good about ourselves—about our place and performance in life. The substances we choose to provide us life—i.e., alcohol, money, spiritual performance, sexuality, knowledge, etc.—suck us into varying degrees of dependence and addiction. False loves promise a life of purpose, peace, control and affirmation, but they cannot deliver the goods. The only deceive and destroy. Our false loves either in religious or irreligious forms are just “a destructive mirage full of empty IOUs”, says Scotty Smith.
So God in this sacred marriage desires for you to come and to honestly confess the competing false loves in your life—to acknowledge your unfaithfulness and run to your Husband and find forgiveness and rest. He delights to provide it!
What are your false loves? Ask the Holy Spirit to help you to see what is leading your astray from your sincere and pure devotion with Jesus. He desires for you to find rest and freedom for your souls so that you can experience a growing intimacy and confidence with Him.
My next Blog, we will consider:
Even though we are unfaithful to Jesus as we struggle with our false loves, He is never unfaithful to us. Jesus is the end of our struggle to find life in our false loves.
Pastor Jeff
Here the Apostle Paul reminds in 2 Corinthian 11:3:
3 But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.
How do we struggle to desire and love Christ in this sacred marriage?
Paul fears and rightly so that the Corinthians will be seduced to unfaithfulness by other false loves. Their past has proven his concern. They had allowed other things (e.g., pride, sexual immorality, forsaking the poor) to lead them astray from a growing relationship with Jesus.
He reminds them of the Fall when Satan tempted Eve and she was deceived. When her heart desired the fruit more than God, she lost and left her first love and turned to other things to make her complete and satisfied. She began to doubt God’s goodness and truth and this led her to replace God with other things—to be like God, gain knowledge, and experience “true happiness.” You can see the affects of Eve leaving the Lover of her soul— she hides and blames others for her sin. She now gets her satisfaction from loving other things rather than God.
We do not have to stop with Eve. Throughout Biblical history God’s people have struggled to remain faithful, chaste, and pure to their covenant vows to God. Here these graphic descriptions of God’s people unfaithfulness to their marriage to Christ found in Scripture:
“If a man divorces his wife and she goes from him and becomes another man's wife, will he return to her? Would not that land be greatly polluted? You have played the whore with many lovers; and would you return to me? declares the LORD." (Jeremiah 3:1)
15 “But you trusted in your beauty and played the whore (were unfaithful) because of your renown and lavished your whorings (unfaithfulness) on any passerby; your beauty became his. 16 You took some of your garments and made for yourself colorful shrines, and on them played the whore (were unfaithful). The like has never been, nor ever shall be. (Ezekiel 16:15-16)
12 My people inquire of a piece of wood, and their walking staff gives them oracles. For a spirit of whoredom has led them astray, and they have left their God to play the whore. (Hosea 4:12)
In these passages, God is denouncing their unfaithfulness to Him as spiritual adultery. Paul warns the Corinthian church and us of a similar struggle in this passage. We will commit spiritual adultery.
In fact, we need to know what may lead our hearts astray. For we are tempted and often times give into the temptation of being unfaithful to God and committing spiritual adultery.
God knows that we can and will be deceived like Eve, and to love other things more than God. Often these other things drive us away from our marriage with Christ. Seeking comfort, peace, power and position are such competing lovers. Our obsession with our reputation, respect and approval interferes with our relationship with Jesus, and they become more meaningful to us than Jesus. Our pursuit of career, possessions, physical health, strength, and obedient children can also lead us astray from the One who loves us completely and thoroughly. Not that any of those things are evil or wrong in themselves. But when we allow ourselves to be ruled by them more than Jesus and his love, then we will become complacent and unmoved by our Husband and his pursuing and stubborn love.
Friends, I know that this is true. One such competing love in my relationship with Jesus is my obsession with order and respect. If the house doesn’t look a certain way and I am not resting in Jesus and his love for me, I can become angry with my wife and children and say things that are manipulating and hurtful to get my way. What’s going on? I fear that they are not respecting me when they don’t keep the house in order. Because I find more value and satisfaction in an ordered house than in Jesus and all that he has provided me in the gospel, I show what I am really loving, serving and worshipping—myself.
Every false love promises to free us so that we finally feel good about ourselves—about our place and performance in life. The substances we choose to provide us life—i.e., alcohol, money, spiritual performance, sexuality, knowledge, etc.—suck us into varying degrees of dependence and addiction. False loves promise a life of purpose, peace, control and affirmation, but they cannot deliver the goods. The only deceive and destroy. Our false loves either in religious or irreligious forms are just “a destructive mirage full of empty IOUs”, says Scotty Smith.
So God in this sacred marriage desires for you to come and to honestly confess the competing false loves in your life—to acknowledge your unfaithfulness and run to your Husband and find forgiveness and rest. He delights to provide it!
What are your false loves? Ask the Holy Spirit to help you to see what is leading your astray from your sincere and pure devotion with Jesus. He desires for you to find rest and freedom for your souls so that you can experience a growing intimacy and confidence with Him.
My next Blog, we will consider:
Even though we are unfaithful to Jesus as we struggle with our false loves, He is never unfaithful to us. Jesus is the end of our struggle to find life in our false loves.
Pastor Jeff
posted by City of Hope Church at 2:20 PM
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