Mindy and I will be married for five years on September 1st.
Every year I like to make a list describing what has happened to us in five years.
It would look something like this.
In five years we have been called to five churches between
teaching and preaching; we have lived in two apartments and one house in two
states; we have lived with our parents three separate times; we have had three
cars, and we have three wonderful kids.
The reason I love to do this is because it reminds me of
what God has done in our lives in the past five years. There is no way I would
have expected to see such a list just five years after we were married. I am
asking for Him to slow things down, but beyond all this external stuff is the
internal stuff. God has done so much to change Mindy and me from where we
started.
During my history of dating, I was addicted to love. I was
going to make sure divorce never happened to me. I had fallen hopelessly in
love several times--every time believing that particular girl was the one, only to get my heart broken
time and time again. I look back to the time when people had to listen to my
complaints about being heart broken and hoping for the arrival of the right girl. Regardless, there was
something about that feeling that was overwhelming--when you fall in love and
just want to be with that person every moment.
To some of you who have celebrated many anniversaries, it
may seem like a long time ago--so much stuff happens in life that separates you
from the first time you met your spouse, boyfriend or girlfriend.
Mindy and I were set up on a blind date that I really
expected to tank. I even had a back-up
plan of eating ice cream with old college friends. That moment God brought the
love of my life into my life.
Mindy loves to watch those bride shows on TV. You know--vote
on the cooler wedding. Seriously I love the memories of our own wedding, and don’t
want to watch a show every weekend with brides critiquing each other while
trying to win a honeymoon. But now and then she begs me to watch with her, and sometimes
I submit. Oh, the part of marriage we never talk about! Movies and TV
illustrate all the great stuff that you will fall in love forever, but they
never credit God for His plan of bringing two broken people together and the
challenges in that.
Deja vu
Oh, all right, before I headed to my sister’s wedding on
July 8th, I talked about the same text and had something to say
about marriage. But I really didn’t get to preach on the hard knocks involved
in the submission of love. This week in the church year calendar, that Ephesians text comes up. With the majority of people celebrating
anniversaries during the summer, it seemed like a good topic before the end of
the summer season.
Plus it is not too far off from following Jesus. When we
first see Jesus, we become aware of all of His wonderful gifts. We see how He
offers forgiveness for the sin that plagues our lives. We see the peace He
gives us. We see how He is love.
But then…
We realize what it means to submit to Jesus and follow Him.
It means we are often criticized by others when we make mistakes (or what they
perceive to be mistakes). We hear the hurtful words of those who don’t share
our beliefs. We feel the pressure to follow God’s commandments, and often beat
ourselves up when we make mistakes. We look at an imperfect world with all the
things we must avoid. We become aware of
all the places where we could share the message of Christ’s deep love for us,
His submission to death. This message creates
a desire to follow Him, but sin makes it so hard. God never quits refining us.
No one is done.
But it is….
All worth it!! Come hear about it this weekend. We will talk
about marriage, but even more, about the deep love of Jesus and how it is
something we can never get enough of, and how it compels us to respond and
share this wonderful message.
1 comment:
This post reminds me about our very small conversation a while ago about "How I Met Your Mother." Oh, Ted Mosby. When are you going to learn?
I used to be a helpless romantic who believed that there was that right girl out there for me, the one God had in store. And I believed I found her and had her. I liked that view of life, until I met this pastor who made my world view come crumbling down.....and then I got to see the reality behind the facade I made.
As this young pastor, not to mention any names *cough cough*, had said in a Bible study I was attending, believing in a soul mate, that there is just one person out there that God has made for you, is far from the message of the Gospel. Though he didn't use these words, but these are the impression he left in my mind. God loves us, and in that love He gives us a choice. He gives us complete freedom. That incluses IN OUR LOVE LIVES!
Since my view shift, I believe it's more romantic to say, "God allowed me the choice, and I choose you." than "I have no choice, you're it." I think it's also more beautiful knowing that whatever choice you make, God is going to work through you, bringing these two broken people together (who are not "perfect" for each other in any way other than through His love that He gives them) and making them a whole. It's an awesome, powerful thing that we will never understand in this life.
But to know too, that God has the choice as well, and that He chooses each of us to be His bride is something even more amazing. I know that like God demonstrated through Hosea, we have rejected Him and prostituted ourselves out to other gods, yet He still chooses us, and is willing to make us holy and blameless, without any faults or blemishes. I pray that God makes me a husband like that, one who pursues my Bride ruthlessly and presents her before God as radiant and spotless, covered in mercy and grace.
Post a Comment