One of a Kind Marriage, Part 3
How can Jesus possibly desire and love a wife like us?
Because that is why he came and died. He died so that we could enter and experience a forever-covenantal love relationship with God—where our acceptance is not based on our performance, our beauty, and our reputation but on His perfect performance, his pure beauty, his faultless reputation and his voluntary and sacrificial death on the cross.
There is an ancient ceremony between two nomadic tribes when a father promises a boy to a girl in marriage. The fathers would slaughter a goat or another animal and cut the carcass in half. At sundown, each father would walk barefoot through the blood path. The slaughtered animals symbolized what would happen to either party if they violated the terms of the agreement—death!
Since we broke our covenantal commitment in marriage with God the Father someone had to die. Because our Father is eternally and thoroughly committed to us in this covenantal marriage, He chose His Son Jesus to die the death we deserved to die. Jesus was slaughtered for us so that our marriage with Him would flourish and last forever.
Since he is our Husband, his sufficient grace frees us from the tyranny of living for our false lovers. Jesus isn’t merely the godly means of finally feeling good about ourselves and he isn’t our “natural high”.
Jesus as our Husband enables us to remain pure and chaste. He enables us not to be “led astray from our sincere and pure devotion to Him.” Due to his persistent commitment to us even in the midst of our struggle with other lovers, He pursues us and makes us who we are in reality, His beloved Bride.
Because he loves us so, we are able to love him in return. Not perfectly but as we depend upon our One of a kind Lover, he will grow us in our love for him.
And as we grow in our love for Him because we are overwhelmed by His love for us, he enables us to move towards others in intimacy and service.
“To know and experience that we are fully and eternally accepted by God in Christ makes the false marketing of idols [false lovers] much less attractive. By nature, we are captive to our own self-worship [our number one false lover]. Only the power of the gospel can begin to totally reorient the direction of our hearts toward the worship of God and the service of others. As this happens, we begin to look less and less for idols [false lovers] with which to support our own deification. We begin to find more joy in living for the pleasure of Jesus and less for the approval of men. A primary sign of the diminishing rule of idols [false lovers] and addictions is seen in our increased joy in loving and serving others.” (Scotty Smith, Reign of Grace)
How deep is your love for Christ your husband? Better yet, may you be encouraged and motivated by His deep love for you! His love never fails, and perfects our ill attempts to love him and others. Enjoy your scared marriage to our One of a Kind Lover! He went to great lengths to secure it!
Because I care,
Pastor Jeff
Because that is why he came and died. He died so that we could enter and experience a forever-covenantal love relationship with God—where our acceptance is not based on our performance, our beauty, and our reputation but on His perfect performance, his pure beauty, his faultless reputation and his voluntary and sacrificial death on the cross.
There is an ancient ceremony between two nomadic tribes when a father promises a boy to a girl in marriage. The fathers would slaughter a goat or another animal and cut the carcass in half. At sundown, each father would walk barefoot through the blood path. The slaughtered animals symbolized what would happen to either party if they violated the terms of the agreement—death!
Since we broke our covenantal commitment in marriage with God the Father someone had to die. Because our Father is eternally and thoroughly committed to us in this covenantal marriage, He chose His Son Jesus to die the death we deserved to die. Jesus was slaughtered for us so that our marriage with Him would flourish and last forever.
Since he is our Husband, his sufficient grace frees us from the tyranny of living for our false lovers. Jesus isn’t merely the godly means of finally feeling good about ourselves and he isn’t our “natural high”.
Jesus as our Husband enables us to remain pure and chaste. He enables us not to be “led astray from our sincere and pure devotion to Him.” Due to his persistent commitment to us even in the midst of our struggle with other lovers, He pursues us and makes us who we are in reality, His beloved Bride.
Because he loves us so, we are able to love him in return. Not perfectly but as we depend upon our One of a kind Lover, he will grow us in our love for him.
And as we grow in our love for Him because we are overwhelmed by His love for us, he enables us to move towards others in intimacy and service.
“To know and experience that we are fully and eternally accepted by God in Christ makes the false marketing of idols [false lovers] much less attractive. By nature, we are captive to our own self-worship [our number one false lover]. Only the power of the gospel can begin to totally reorient the direction of our hearts toward the worship of God and the service of others. As this happens, we begin to look less and less for idols [false lovers] with which to support our own deification. We begin to find more joy in living for the pleasure of Jesus and less for the approval of men. A primary sign of the diminishing rule of idols [false lovers] and addictions is seen in our increased joy in loving and serving others.” (Scotty Smith, Reign of Grace)
How deep is your love for Christ your husband? Better yet, may you be encouraged and motivated by His deep love for you! His love never fails, and perfects our ill attempts to love him and others. Enjoy your scared marriage to our One of a Kind Lover! He went to great lengths to secure it!
Because I care,
Pastor Jeff
posted by City of Hope Church at 3:05 PM
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