Blood and Bride

My wife and I will have been married for 17 years this summer, and our marriage has given me a window to see and savor Jesus more.

In the story of Scripture, God chooses a people to be his beloved bride. He provides, protects, and moves into their presence. When enemies rise, he defeats them. All he asks in return is their exclusive love. Yet they despise him by turning to other gods.  They have hearts of stone and are blind to his goodness. He calls them adulterers who have abandoned their husband.

Marriage costs something. In the weddings I officiate, both bride and groom must sacrifice time, money, space, and will for the sake of their union. But in the story of God and his people, God gives first and gives most.

This Sunday, we heard Paul charge the Ephesian elders to "care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood."The reason the charge carries such weight is the price behind it — the church is of supreme value to God. When we had defied and run from his love, he found us and paid the highest price imaginable to bring us to himself.

We are his blood-bride. How could we ever doubt his love? He who paid so great a price will prize his bride forever.

So here is the question worth sitting with: Is your relationship with this local church rooted in what you get from it — comfort, community, preference — or is it rooted in God's deep, costly love for her? He bled for his bride. She deserves our love because she has his.

Together as his blood-bought bride,

Pastor Loren