Scripture

Our verse for today comes from 2 Corinthians 11:2, ” For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. ” 

Background

I can remember when I was engaged to the woman who is now my wife. We spent a lot of time talking about and planning for the wedding. And who knows how much more time apart from me that she focused on the specifics and particulars that would help make the wedding day that much more special. There was definitely a deep devotion and commitment to one another that was to be made official on that day. Now, let’s do the unthinkable and imagine a woman being engaged to two men at once. Don’t you immediately sense how unnatural that feels? All of the purity and sacredness and uniqueness of the union between a husband and a wife is destroyed in the picture of a woman trying to marry two men. Her finger simply was not made to wear two rings. Now, let’s also consider the woman who comes to the wedding day unable to present herself as the pure virgin that she was at a younger age. She has some extra baggage, perhaps, that she brings with her from her past, and it may or may not affect or shape the future of her wedded relationship. And it is that wedded relationship that is the reason and focus of the wedding day. A bride could technically be in two weddings on one day, or stand amidst two grooms. But apart from the sham that the vows and promises would be, there would be the slight issue of life after the wedding. 

Application

Are you beginning to see how this parallels our relationship with Jesus? Does it illuminate the ” sincere and pure devotion ” that verse three says we are to have with Christ? We are betrothed to Jesus, united and fastened to Him as tightly as the beams of a waterproof ship. What does it do to our relationship with Him when we become engaged to something else? How pure and sincere are we when we invite in to live with us our former relationships of unforgiveness, materialism, lust or self-sufficiency? Are you now betrothed to Jesus your Christ? Then make Him the main focus of everything you do. 

Charge

As we seek Him today, ask God to help you see and understand what it means to be purely and sincerely betrothed to the simplicity that is in Jesus. Kick to the curb anything that is invading that relationship. 

Salvation – Eternal Life in Less Than 150 Words