The betrothed

Being a hopelessly romantic soul, I love the idea of being a bride. I love the wedding and the preparation for a sacred moment when two souls merge in a covenant ceremony, sealed by God.

The imagery of the wedding ceremony is peppered throughout the new testament, describing the relationship between Jesus and the Church. That imagery reflects the basic tenants of the laws of the old testament. Those laws created a vision and value for the act of marriage that created an anticipation in the lives of those young people who were looking towards marriage.

As I reflect on the imagery of the new testament, I recognize the vision and value of what is yet to come. Somewhere in the future, I will stand in front of Jesus - part of the Church - as a perfect bride. This life is not the end, but a means to an end. A preparation time for what is to come.

What's coming is the perfect union of a perfect relationship with the One who bought me and you for a price. This time of preparation will not be lost or wasted.

Have you participated in the preparations for a wedding? Big or small, there are so many details. There's a dream in place and each decision is made to bring that dream to life for that special event. Often obscene amounts of money are spent and an exorbitant amount of time is invested for a single moment and the celebration of that moment. Why does this happen? Because of the value of that moment.

Ephesians 5 has a long discussion about this preparation time and what God desires to accomplish with it. As the author, Paul, begins to wrap up he says, "So that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the Word, That He might present the church to Himself in glorious splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such things [that she might be holy and faultless]" in verses 26 and 27. He lets us in on an important detail towards the end, in verse 32, "This mystery is very great, but I speak concerning [the relation of] Christ and the church."

We have not arrived yet, dear friend. As you read these words, you remain in the sanctifying process. That's why I love this picture so much. It reminds me to be patient with myself and others for we are preparing for that eternal "something," that we can barely imagine, but still remains a bit of a mystery. God lavishly prepares us for the moment when we will be presented. No detail is overlooked, no cost will be spared. He's the Ultimate Wedding Planner (a term that will not be found literally in scripture.) He's passionate about this because Jesus is a worthy groom. He gave it all so that He could have us. He is worthy of my fullest and best and He is worthy of my surrender so I can be perfectly prepared for Him.

Just As I Am

I was thinking about a hymn that I used to hear all the time at church, "Just as I am." I can't remember all the words, but the first verse went something like this: "Just as I am, without one plea. But that they blood was shed for me. And that thou bidst me, come to the. Oh Lamb of God, I come. I come."

It's an old world way to say to Jesus that I recognize myself and I recognize Him. I see that I am hopelessly unworthy to be received by Him, and yet that's the exact understanding I need to allow myself to be fully received by Him. He wants me just the way I am - and He wants me to be without any delusion that I am the source of anything.

My pride is really a source of contention here. I trip, almost every day over my overdeveloped sense of self. I often place the gifts that God has given me into a category that is exclusive to me and forget that they're only truly effective when they are surrendered tools used by God.

I was thinking about a story that a couple of my girlfriends told (they're sisters.) They were talking about their cooking abilities, or lack there of, based on the feedback from their husbands. The girls were quite humble in their failure. One has applied herself to learning "gourmet" while the other is content to let her husband be the chef in the family (or order take out - my personal favorite!)

The moral of the story was that their mother never used spices or seasonings in her cooking. As they grew up, they were used to the bland pallet. The husbands, on the other hand, were very aware that something was missing.

That's how it is with us. We don't have what we need to be a "sweet aroma" in and of ourselves. We need the flavorings that can only be added by the saving knowledge of Jesus and the power of being filled by the Spirit. We are living sacrifices, which means that we surrender to this work every day and in every way. That notion is detailed beautifully in Romans 12:1-2. I love the way the Message translation states it:

"So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you."

Come, just as you are, everyday and be filled with the goodness of God to be used by Him in His glorious kingdom!

What does it mean, to delight?

I was reading Psalm 37 this morning, when that question passed through my mind. As an optimist, I'm always committed to believing that there's a "good" side to every situation and even the hardest struggles can end in victory. But as I contemplated "delight" it felt like a foreign word to my optimistic outlook. It came across as something far more present tense than I had previously considered it.

Delight is a noun not a verb, which is something I learned from Webster. Here's what else Webster says about delight:

1 : a high degree of gratification : JOY; also : extreme satisfaction
2 : something that gives great pleasure delight
3 archaic : the power of affording pleasure

Now those who know me well, might say that I'm not much of a delighter, and that would be true. I think I've become a cynic and an idealist and these characteristics override the delighting nature. It appears to me that delighting is something that has to be nourished and thoughtfully nurtured. It doesn't appear that delighting would come natural to a cynical idealist. And yet, in the 37 Psalm, delighting is a win-win choice for one who has a personal relationship with the sovereign God of the universe.

Verse 4 reads, "Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you your heart’s desires." To delight in God is a mutually beneficial thing to do. As I consider being in a state of living, where I have obtained the desires of my heart, I have to admit that the effort I would put out to override my cynical idealist would be worth it. To remove the obstacles in my soul that make finding delight in God difficult, would clear the way to receive those things that would really bring true satisfaction in the deepest place of my heart.

Is He your delight? What obstacles are in your should that keep that from happening?

This is not a fairy tale

I just wanted to share some thoughts from a book that I'm reading. I've told you before, that I don't think I have very many original thoughts. I must credit Laurie Hall for most of these.

God cannot heal that which is covered. Rotteness thrives on the darkness secrecy provides, and it feeds on the shame [we] fear will follow exposure. The only way to excise the rot in our lives is to slice open the denial and expose the shame to the light. But this excision must be carefully done. Just as one would never do surgery without properly sterilized instruments or allow the unmasked to peer into the wound, so one is wise not to invite those who have no sense of their own baggage to view yours.

A Very Great Darkenss.
Isaiah 60:1,2 says, "Arise, shine, for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and His glory shall be seen upon thee."

There are two kinds of darkness in this passage: a darkness that covers the earth and a gross darkness that covers the people. The Hebrew word used in this verse for the darkness that's covering the earth means falsehood, ignorance, and blindness. The Hebrew word for the gross darkness that is cover the people refers to the misery and gloom that settles on people who are blinded by falsehood and ignorance. It's a miserable state that makes your soul feel like it's drooping inside you.

Scripture says this is the common condition of all people. Blinded by the darkness of our false beliefs, we stumble along the best we can, vaguely feeling like something's missing. Our minds say were on the verge of discovering the answer to our dilemma - but our guts know we still haven't got a clue. This conflict between our minds and our guts causes us tremendous tension. Outwardly, we may act as if we've got it all togther, but inwardly we know tht truth. We are hopelessly lost in a place we can't see. Up comes a little anxiety to let us know we're not operating with integrity. Unable to stumble out of the darkness, we gradually pull away from life and its relationships, until our shivering souls are huddled deep inside us.

Scripture says there's only one condition that's more desperate than being in the darkness of ignorance and false beliefs. And that's thinking that we know what's going on when we haven't got a clue. Jesus said in Matthew 6:22-23, "The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is sound, your entire body will be full of light; but if your eye is unsound, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then, the very light in you is darkened, how dense is that darkness."

There is good news! God wants to deliver us from the darkness. From the guilt and shame and fear. There is a way out. There's something beyond the anxiety and frustration that many of us call a life.

The Great Adventure. Do you know what makes a story an adventure? It's the cliffhangers - the times when you're not sure the hero and heroine are going to make it. It's the times when the good guys stumble into the bad guys' trap and there's no way out, and the train is coming or the rope is fraying, and disaster in looming, seconds away. Then, in the distance, just when your heart is about to pound right out of your chest, the music changes to signal that help is on the way. That's an adventure. We love to to experience them through fictional charcters - it's harder to live them (not to mention there's no music to signal that help is coming.)

The ultimate adventure comes as the result of a quest. In order to be a true adventure, the quest has to be desperate and all-consuming. Being desperate for and consumed by something can be pretty uncomfortable. But really what would you have to lose?

Arise, and shine, for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. Fairy tales end with "happily ever after..." (although Disney is getting craftier in their marketing.) Adventures have sequels and trilogies, really great adventures can have 8, 9 or 14 "episodes" added to them. You were made for greatness. You will never be satisfied with a shabby fairy tale ending. Take courage my friend, you're not alone and every effort you make is matched with tremedous leverage by the one who created you and holds you in his hand.

You don't have to hide, come out of the darkness and into the light of truth. Ask God for a reliable guide and take baby steps at first, but know for sure that one day you will wildly run with confidence in the hope that true freedom offers!