Bride of Christ

June 15, 2016

The Bride of Christ is a term we use in church. We call ourselves His bride. We say He is coming back for His bride. But I wonder do we know what it means. Think about that for a minute. What is a bride? What does a bride do? How does she prepare for her bridegroom?

On April 24, 2016 when I was staying at my cousin Tonia’s home the Lord woke me up and had me read Jeremiah. I read Jer. 3:6-19. This passage of scripture was about how faithless Israel committed adultery. She has gone up on every high hill and under every spreading tree and committed adultery there. Reading this made me realize that we commit adultery against the Lord. He is to be our husband. He is our first love. If we go here and there thinking we can get something we need from everyone and everything else. If we strive to do things unto ourselves, in our own way and in our own strength we are cheating on our bridegroom. We are negating His role as our Lord and provider. Our hearts are not turned to Him. We are not trusting in Him. When our faith is not grounded in Him, but in everything else we commit adultery.

The bible says her sister Judah saw it.. I believe since Judah was already unfaithful this gave her no desire to follow God. If His own people; His bride would not then why should she. When we who profess to be His people trust in the world instead of in Him we defile our message and produce an attitude of no fear in the unfaithful acts we commit.
I think that since Judah was one of the 12 tribes it means that we are not talking about unbelievers here. We are talking about unfaithful believers. It says that when Judah returned to the Lord she did so only in pre-tense and was counted as less righteous than faithless Israel.

The Lord says to the faithless return to me. I will frown on you no longer and will be merciful. If you ignore and rebelled against God admit it; confess it; repent. Recognize that He is to be our Husband and we have been chosen by Him. He is faithful to forgive if we repent. Verse 15 says: When we return to Him, He will give us shepherds after His heart to lead us, help us understand Him and increase us in number. Then He will gather us and bring us to Zion. He called us; He chose us. It is the chosen who will be given shepherds after His heart. God is offering us a spiritual kingdom. He is offering us Him; to be wedded to Him and to live in this city of God with Him. Not just for a time, but for eternity. Eternity isn’t some far away thing it is now. What we are doing now matters!

If He is to be our husband think about what that means. We are engaged. When you are engaged you plan a life together. It is not all about what He can do for us, but what we can do for Him. We honor our future husband. We desire Him. He is our love and our life. Think about how a bride treats her future husband? Is that how we treat Him, Christ our bridegroom?

When we only look to Him only as a father, as savior or as friend, we miss out on the fact that He is also LORD of our life and we are to be His bride. That He is going to be wed to us and we will be wed to Him. If we only promise Him with words and not our heart; if we only go through the motions but don’t engage our whole heart, we are like unfaithful Judah. We will leave as soon as something that looks good comes by. We will look to see what we can do ourselves instead of keeping our dependence on Him.

I think it is interesting that the Word calls Israel faithless and Judah unfaithful. There is a very big difference in those two things. He says faithless Israel is more righteous than unfaithful Judah. That should cut us to the heart and cause us to examine which we are. How are we treating our future husband? The one that gave it all. Are we acting in faithlessness? Being unreliable, untrustworthy, or unbelieving? Or are we being unfaithful? Engaging in relations with the world instead of the one we promised our heart too. We can’t think little things don’t matter. Compromise big or small is still compromise. Untrustworthiness regardless of our reason is still letting the Lord know that we don’t think He can do it. Anytime we choose ourselves or the world over Christ is adultery. We are not promised to ourselves or to the world, we are promised to Christ and it is in Him and only in Him that we should place our trust. He is faithful to do what He says He will do.

Verse 19 hurts my heart. It says: “I thought you would call me father.” Is this what He says to me? Is this how He feels about His church? Is this how we treat the one who did it all? Does He look at us running around doing out own thing and say “I thought you would be my bride?” He loves us and He wants to be with us. In His love He keeps calling (Like in the book of Hosea). Do we answer when He calls or do we come to Him until something better, easier comes along? I think about Daniel and his friends. In the midst of captivity, they set themselves apart and refused to defile themselves. They refused to trade righteousness and faithfulness to God for what would be easy and beneficial to them. But can we say the same? When we say we are not of the world, we are just in it, are we sure that it is true? Where is that statement true and where is it false?

There is an urgency and a need to return completely. To examine the areas where we are going to every high hill and under every spreading tree instead of going to Him. We need to return because we have been chosen to be brought to Zion. It is a privilege and we treat it sometimes as if it is owed to us. The Word says He gave us the right to be called children of God. He gave it. It is not owed and are not entitled to it. We did not earn it and we do not deserve it. He gave, He purchased us and yet we cheat on Him every time we choose the world or ourselves over Him. My pride, my selfishness, my busyness is adultery because I am putting self first. Loving self over you. Forgive me oh Lord!

Thank you Lord for your time with me this morning. Thank you Lord for this word. Thank you for deepening my understanding. Thank you for your unfailing love and your amazing grace. Lord forgive me for the areas in my life where I compromise. Lord help me to see and understand where I commit adultery. Lord forgive me for every time I have failed to put you first. Forgive me for every time my heart has wandered. Forgive me Lord! I love you and I acknowledge you as my father. As my husband, as my life. Thank you Lord for giving me the right to be called your child. I love you Lord. I give you my life. In Jesus name, Amen.