Words Of Encouragement To StartThe Day (09/08/2011)

Are You Married Or Did You Just Take The Ring and His Name

Revelation 22:17-20 Amplified Bible (AMP)

¹⁷The [Holy] Spirit and the bride (the church, the true Christians) say, Come! And let him who is listening say, Come! And let everyone come who is thirsty [who is painfully conscious of his need of those things by which the soul is refreshed, supported, and strengthened]; and whoever [earnestly] desires to do it, let him come, take, appropriate, and drink the water of Life without cost. ¹⁸I [personally solemnly] warn everyone who listens to the statements of the prophecy [the predictions and the consolations and admonitions pertaining to them] in this book: If anyone shall add anything to them, God will add and lay upon him the plagues (the afflictions and the calamities) that are recorded and described in this book. ¹⁹And if anyone cancels or takes away from the statements of the book of this prophecy [these predictions relating to Christ's kingdom and its speedy triumph, together with the consolations and admonitions or warnings pertaining to them], God will cancel and take away from him his share in the tree of life and in the city of holiness (purity and hallowedness), which are described and promised in this book. ²⁰He Who gives this warning and affirms and testifies to these things says, Yes (it is true). [Surely] I am coming quickly (swiftly, speedily). Amen (so let it be)! Yes, come, Lord Jesus!

            Marriage is defined as a union, a close connection. It is also defined as a commitment or covenant, solidified or identified by a ceremony.  Most of us that have been to weddings would agree that because you take a vow you are making an agreement to be in covenant and committed to one another.  When we look at the vows taken within the marriage ceremony it is a lot like the vow or commitment that we entered into when we accepted Jesus into our lives as Lord and savior.  When I recognized that in that moment I understood an awful lot.  When our parents were growing up, divorce was minimal, and rare.  People worked it out, because they saw marriage as a lifelong commitment; they recognized marriage was not just a statues of being or a name change.  They did not look at it as a method to cure loneliness but a commitment to enhance the lives of each other and to sustain, not just each other but any children that became a product of that union.  As time has moved on we have become desensitized to marriage and what it stands for, divorce, separation and just walking away from responsibility has become a part of our nation’s marital fiber. We have taken the truth and the true intent and true nature of marriage and adjusted it to meet our needs, our perspective and our vantage point.  It makes sense why we do the same thing with our union where it concerns God.

            Did you know the church, which is made up of believers is the Bride of Christ?  So what does that mean that means? We are not just committed to Him, because we took and vow and said some words that connected us to Him.  Nor does it mean that we just call ourselves Believers or Christians, or we have a right to use His name.  It means that we are supposed to uphold a commitment and we have a responsibility to sustain our relationship with God.  We are not supposed to change the Word of God to suit our situation or try to twist it to mean what we want it to so that we can get away with things that we know for a fact God would not be pleased with or goes against the covenant we have taken and the word that He has written.  Marriage is uniting two into one.  Instead of us trying to merge into God’s world and dimension we are trying to get Him to merge and morph into ours.  Marriage is sacrifice, but instead we want what we want, and this is often the same attitude that we give to God, we want to call on the name of Jesus, and we want the Holy Spirit working our situation out, but we do not want to submit to God just as we often do not want to submit in marriage.  We do not want to have to be quiet and follow; we want to dictate, just like…you guessed it, in our marriages. 

            God wants the house, the marriage to get in order. He wants the commitment and all that this entails from us.  He doesn’t want us to just take the benefits of who He is and the benefits of His name, without giving Him what He needs which is our loyalty, our obedience, our submission and our faithfulness.  Just as so many of us have taken to infidelity in marriage (whether emotional or physical) we have taken to infidelity in our relationship with God.  Just as natural marriage can end in divorce so can our relationship with God, if we continue to cheat, not submit, twist His words to try to use against Him or others, not be responsible for sustaining the relationship we can suffer the same fate.  God wants us all of us, all in, all the time… He wants to know that He has a real thing with us, a real committed relationship not just something that benefits us and we use our status as a believer and His name when it is convenient to us.  God wants us to be in love with Him for who He is and not what He can do for us.  He wants us to want Him just as much as He wants us.  Are we really God’s and His alone? Something to look at in how we handle our commitment with Him!