Arranged Marriage

 

               The other night I met a young man, Mohammed, who was beaming telling me about his wife!

            She is very beautiful, I must say! I asked him how they met, and he told me it was back in Pakistan, in a city they met, and he liked her, so he went to his father and told his father, and his father spoke to her father, and the marriage was arranged!  Thankfully, it was a mutual attraction!

            I enjoyed listening to him talk about his arranged marriage!  I told him the dating game isn’t really much fun, I definitely see the advantage of arranged marriage. But I wish I’d been quicker on me feet to share about my favorite arranged marriage, the one between Christ and His Bride, the church.

            The Father had this arrangement planned for a very long time! He created mankind, but as soon as we could we rebelled against Him. That rebellion meant there would be a cost to get His people back to Himself. The greatest bride price ever required.

            For humanity to be able to be redeemed, there was a cost. The problem was, humanity was unable to pay that cost for themselves. We know that “the wages of sin is death,” and “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Because all people have sinned against God, in their imperfection they cannot even redeem their own selves. We’re stuck in our sin, separated from God, and destined for death.

            “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8. That is the price of the marriage between Christ and his bride. His life. Only Christ could pay the price of our redemption, as only He lived a perfectly sinless life and could bear the penalty for our sin upon Himself. This was the plan all along.

            I am always baffled that Jesus was willing to pay that cost, to die upon a cross, for my sins. I think it’s because over time, I see both the holiness of God and the depth of my sin more fully, and so the cross that bridges that chasm continuously grows over time.

            It’s humbling, and also overwhelming to think that God considers me part of His bride, and is in love with me so deeply. Maybe I’m still insecure in my new identity in Christ, even though I know it is secure, I’m very aware of how unworthy I am of it. But God sees His people as beautiful now, when He looks on us, He sees His Son’s perfection on our lives. That’s amazing to think about.

            I’ll have to elaborate more on these thoughts over time, but all this pondering about Christ and His bride makes me think of The Wedding Dress song by Derek Webb. It’s one of my favorite songs about this. I listen with bitter sweetness though, as I know that Derek Webb has left the faith. He is on my heart, and I will elaborate more on that later.