ARE YOU PLEASING YOUR HUSBAND?
Quick, before you move on - this is NOT written primarily for women. And no, I am not advancing a gay agenda. What I am writing about is a subject very close to my heart - being married to Christ.
I believe that the huge slide in spirituality and the power of the church is tied into a total lack of understanding of this subject. People are exhorted to come forward to "give their lives to Christ". To become friends with Jesus; to get a high better than drugs. Many have no clue what they are doing. George Gallup claims 70% of Americans claim to be "born again". George Barna found that only one out of fourteen of these could really define scripturally what it meant. Perhaps some people just are not good at explaining things, but even among Christians there is a startling lack of understanding. I shared this in a small group I was leading, and HALF the people could not explain it either. Now that was an eye-opener.
The scripture is clear - God views people in a romantic manner - read how God viewed Israel. Read how God views the church. We have been chosen by God to be a multi-membered bride for Jesus. He has planned a massive marriage supper to celebrate. Our lives have been designed by God to prepare us for that big event.
Unfortunately, many people view Christianity as a way to have a fuller life and to be happier and better balanced. Heaven is a place to party with their loved ones. Jesus is not the center at all. It is the mindset of a single person. It is not the mindset of one seeking marriage.
People who seek marriage are other-directed. Those preparing to be with Christ forever are preoccupied with exploring Christ to get to know him - his personality, his deep desires, his spiritual nature. They connect with the same Holy Spirit that indwelt Christ. You see Christ does not want an independent bride. He is not about mutual submission. He is not about adopting your hopes and dreams into his life in order to cater to you. You see, the Holy Spirit that wrote through Paul clearly says the woman was created for the man, not the man for the woman. And human marriages are illustrations of the relationship between Christ and his church.
So many Christian marriages are in trouble because Christians have bought into the world's ideas and the rebellion at the heart of the feminist movement. Women are independent and men abdicate their God given mission to be the spiritual directors and visionaries for their marriages. The woman's role is to please her husband and our role is to please Christ. It is ironic that so many preachers seem to believe that Jesus is here to wait on us and be our servants and cater to our selfish demands. They have it backwards.
As people preparing to be married to Christ, our lives here are in preparation for being his perfect bride. We cannot do this on our own. Rather, we invite the SAME Holy Spirit who dwelt in Christ to dwell in us. He empowers us to be like Christ in character and shows us how to participate in the power that Christ wants to share with us.
When we worship, we need to worship Christ rather than please ourselves. Of course, when we kiss our Lord in worship, we do feel great, but our worship must not be carnal but spiritual in nature. When we speak of the Lord, he cannot be distant or removed, but our most intimate friend. We no longer live to please ourselves,. but please him. We do not date others- we are exclusive with him. We do not adorn ourselves to please ourselves, but to please him. We do not build up ourselves, we build him up.
We have been created for the Lord - he is not a created being, so he was not created for us! JEsus has paid the bride-price with his blood. Naturally, those who spurn his love and grace will be cast out because there is noway they could ever be married to the Lord.
We must strive after holiness and perfection so we can please him. We can only be compatible with this type of relationship with our God, Jesus Christ when we have the same qualities as he has. Not to worry! He will help us and he gave us his Spirit to help us! We simply have to spurn all other gods and all other lovers. He is a jealous God, and he will NOT share us with anyone. Are you in?
I believe that the huge slide in spirituality and the power of the church is tied into a total lack of understanding of this subject. People are exhorted to come forward to "give their lives to Christ". To become friends with Jesus; to get a high better than drugs. Many have no clue what they are doing. George Gallup claims 70% of Americans claim to be "born again". George Barna found that only one out of fourteen of these could really define scripturally what it meant. Perhaps some people just are not good at explaining things, but even among Christians there is a startling lack of understanding. I shared this in a small group I was leading, and HALF the people could not explain it either. Now that was an eye-opener.
The scripture is clear - God views people in a romantic manner - read how God viewed Israel. Read how God views the church. We have been chosen by God to be a multi-membered bride for Jesus. He has planned a massive marriage supper to celebrate. Our lives have been designed by God to prepare us for that big event.
Unfortunately, many people view Christianity as a way to have a fuller life and to be happier and better balanced. Heaven is a place to party with their loved ones. Jesus is not the center at all. It is the mindset of a single person. It is not the mindset of one seeking marriage.
People who seek marriage are other-directed. Those preparing to be with Christ forever are preoccupied with exploring Christ to get to know him - his personality, his deep desires, his spiritual nature. They connect with the same Holy Spirit that indwelt Christ. You see Christ does not want an independent bride. He is not about mutual submission. He is not about adopting your hopes and dreams into his life in order to cater to you. You see, the Holy Spirit that wrote through Paul clearly says the woman was created for the man, not the man for the woman. And human marriages are illustrations of the relationship between Christ and his church.
So many Christian marriages are in trouble because Christians have bought into the world's ideas and the rebellion at the heart of the feminist movement. Women are independent and men abdicate their God given mission to be the spiritual directors and visionaries for their marriages. The woman's role is to please her husband and our role is to please Christ. It is ironic that so many preachers seem to believe that Jesus is here to wait on us and be our servants and cater to our selfish demands. They have it backwards.
As people preparing to be married to Christ, our lives here are in preparation for being his perfect bride. We cannot do this on our own. Rather, we invite the SAME Holy Spirit who dwelt in Christ to dwell in us. He empowers us to be like Christ in character and shows us how to participate in the power that Christ wants to share with us.
When we worship, we need to worship Christ rather than please ourselves. Of course, when we kiss our Lord in worship, we do feel great, but our worship must not be carnal but spiritual in nature. When we speak of the Lord, he cannot be distant or removed, but our most intimate friend. We no longer live to please ourselves,. but please him. We do not date others- we are exclusive with him. We do not adorn ourselves to please ourselves, but to please him. We do not build up ourselves, we build him up.
We have been created for the Lord - he is not a created being, so he was not created for us! JEsus has paid the bride-price with his blood. Naturally, those who spurn his love and grace will be cast out because there is noway they could ever be married to the Lord.
We must strive after holiness and perfection so we can please him. We can only be compatible with this type of relationship with our God, Jesus Christ when we have the same qualities as he has. Not to worry! He will help us and he gave us his Spirit to help us! We simply have to spurn all other gods and all other lovers. He is a jealous God, and he will NOT share us with anyone. Are you in?
posted by John | 11:30 PM
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