Chosen Bride

"At her father's house, the bride is ready to meet her groom. Her heart is filled with unspeakable joy. Finally, today she will be united with her groom. How she has longed for this moment to arrive, how her heart has yearned for her husband! Closing her eyes, she allows herself to ponder the long journey that has brought her to this happy day. 

She is no random bride. According to the Hebrew custom she was carefully chosen by the groom's father himself..." (Bride Adorned)

Dear friend, in this blog we take a look at ourselves as the bride of Christ. Quite rightly, when we think of a wedding we think bride and groom. This is their day, their story and their love. Yet today, I want us to shift our focus for just a little while.

You and I are the bride because we have a Groom, but we have a Groom because of the love of the Father! Just as in Biblical times and according to the Hebrew custom of old, we were chosen by our Groom's Father...God Himself.

In the first verses of Ephesians 1 we read:

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ...For he chose us..."

I think it is so important for us to grasp this. I often find that we have a more personal relation to Christ than to God the Father and in a way this is understandable because Jesus is the Way to the Father. But at the same time God the Father is often and wrongly perceived as more distant and detached.

This could not be further from the truth! Jesus once said: "The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work." (John 14:10)

Every word of love from the lips of Jesus, comes from the Father! Furthermore, Hebrews 1:3 tells us that the "Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being..." Everything Jesus is to us, every act of love is birthed in the heart of the Father...God Almighty.

God the Father loved us and chose us to be His in Christ Jesus.

May we open up our hearts today to this truth of a loving Father who wants to bestow His love and utmost favor upon us through His Son...Jesus Christ. Let this knowledge of His love drive out any doubts and fears we may harbor in our hearts.

Carry with you this week these words from Jesus:

"My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand. I and the Father are one."

As the bride of Christ, you and I have a Father of whose love we can be sure...

Walk tall this week in the love of the Son and of the Father :-)

God bless until next week
Lize