A Blameless Bride

I recently attended a wedding of a friend. It was an extremely beautiful wedding that clearly reflected the gospel. As I turned to see the bride walking down the aisle I was blown away. She was breathtaking. Her face was shining with excitement for her husband. She had an aura that was exuding deep love. I watched as she approached the altar, the groom waiting eagerly to accept his bride. Weddings are so beautiful, especially in light of Ephesians 5:25-27 where we are told that Christ sacrificed himself for his bride, the church. He washed her and cleansed her so that she could be presented radiant, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. Christ gave himself up for his church, of which we (Christians) are a part. We have been made a beautiful bride, walking down the aisle excited for her husband. As a Christian, I have committed my life to following Jesus Christ. He is my king. Because of the price I was bought at and because of my commitment to him, God has every right to be jealous for me; a husband has a right to be jealous for his wife. One of many great things about God is his fierce jealously for us. God's heart is jealous for me, and I am his. Why would a bride, pure and clean, throw herself into the arms of another man? Why would I, forgiven and redeemed, defile myself and insult God by worshiping another "god"? Why did the Israelites build the golden calf? They were bored and impatient (Exodus 32:1). How moronic! How blind can some people be? They were there when the ten plagues happened, they saw the Red Sea parted, they ate food that fell from the sky. The Israelites had experienced firsthand God's total faithfulness, yet they couldn't remain faithful themselves. Oh God! How I don't want to be like them! Let us never forget his love for us, let us never forget his faithfulness to us, let us never forget his pursuit of us, let us never forget Jesus.

My Life

I spent one week this summer in Idaho with my family. We visited an old historic town from the 1800's. It was interesting to see all the antiques and artifacts. We visited the cemetery, and many of the graves looked like this. They were beat up and ignored. The name on this grave, and about 90% of all the other graves in the cemetery is "Unknown." It struck me that this person had been dead for at least one hundred years, probably close to two hundred. No one knows who he (or she) was. Nobody knows what his occupation was, if he had a family, anything. I started wondering if this person had any significance in life at all. Was the world any different because he had come and gone? What gives a human life significance? God knew this person. This person was made in the image of God. He had significance because he was created by the creator of the universe. Every person on earth has some meaning and significance because of who God is and who he created us to be. Life has meaning because we were created by God and for God. A proper response to that would be a life of worship. That means my whole life would be something that honors God and honors who he made me to be. When I pass, and hundreds of years are gone by, I would hope the world is a better place because I lived in a way that showed the love of my creator to the people around me.

An Issue Of The Heart

In Luke 6:43-45 and Mark 7:18-23 we learn that what we say and how we act are results of what is in our hearts. It seems to make sense and it's easy enough to comprehend. But the more I look at my relationship with Christ, I find that I get hung up on sin management, just trying to please God by sinning as little as possible. I try to mask what's in my heart by just trying to stop whatever sin might be coming out. Lately I feel like God has been showing me that my heart is the issue, not my sin. Sin is the result of my sinful heart. Luckily there is hope, when I accepted Jesus as my savior, God sent his Holy Spirit into my heart. The Spirit calls out "Abba, Father." Because of this Spirit, God accepts me as his son and he is helping me clean up my heart. I am prompted to pray what David prayed in Psalm 51:10, "Create in me a pure heart, O God." When God sent Jesus to die on the cross, he didn't do it just so we would all behave like good little children. He did it so that we might realize his deep love and come to repentance. He did it so we would be able to fall totally and completely in love with him, so that we would love him with all our heart.

The First Post

Just thought I'd give blogging a shot. The content will consist of a mixture of thoughts, tales of adventure, and musings. Please make sure to keep your hands and feet inside at all times. Thank you.