12/21/2023
Do you know Jesus? Have you developed a relationship with God? Are you confident in your faith and feel like you have a handle on it? If you answered yes to the first two questions, that is exciting and wonderful. If you answered yes to the third then you are in for some big surprises as you read on.
“But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”
Matthew 6:33 ESV
Marriage isn’t the pinnacle of a couple’s relationship, it is just the beginning. The years of marriage teach us about a great many things, but especially about God, and faith. For today’s lesson I am going to speak about one such revelation, and deliver it from an elderly husband’s perspective, after many years of loving a woman.
When I first married my wife I didn’t have a clue who she really was. I thought I knew her pretty well, but quickly realized that there were even big picture things that I was completely ignorant of. So I began to work at knowing her better, and some of those lessons were painful (such as understanding that vacuum cleaners are not Christmas presents). After many years we reached middle age and she had revealed a great deal about herself to me. I began to feel comfortable and thought I could predict her reaction to most everything... but, surprise, surprise, I found out that I was wrong again (gem stones are not as beautiful as diamonds, and camping is not her thing). So after much trial and error, I have finally reached my golden years and am confident in only one thing... I will never know her well enough to see through the mystery that is behind her eyes. I have also learned that love is enhanced by the surprise revelations in a relationship. The excitement in my own marriage will continue to make me catch my breath in wonder until I breathe my last. I say this because even if my wife goes on to meet the Lord before I do, I will still be realizing new and wonderful things about her as I think back on our life together. This is just one of the remarkable gems of wisdom that God uses our marriages to teach us... Learning who He is is a journey that never ends.
“For who knows a person's thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.”
1 Corinthians 2:11 ESV
So if a man can spend 47+ years with a woman and barely scratch the surface of who she is, and is still enthralled with the ever changing nature of her complexity, then how can he possibly think that there will come a point at which he truly understands God, and has a firm grasp on the fullness of his faith?
We didn’t cross the finish line of holiness and righteousness when we accepted Jesus as our Savior, and pronounced our faith in God... we just started the relationship... we stepped out of church (or wherever we happened to be) that day into a honeymoon, and the lessons related to the mystery of God were only beginning to unfold. We no more knew Him than we knew our spouse on the day after saying “I do!”
Many marriages end within the first year or two, and usually this is because one or the other of them decides there are new revelations about their spouse that the love they have for them can’t easily assimilate, or overcome. This is especially true today because in our modern society the pain of divorce isn’t sufficient to hold a couple together while they work through their differences. The newlywed love fades to embers in the night, and never makes it to morning when it would once again be reignited. Marriage is work, and love goes hand in hand with the fear and trembling of possibly losing it. Our faith, and conforming to God’s will, also takes a great deal of effort... the easy path is the one that leads away, or back to a place we find comfortable, so the question becomes this... “Can our love of God sustain us as we conform ourselves to His will?”
“Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”
Philippians 2:12-13 ESV
Paul is writing about seeking, and searching, for our salvation... not about suddenly realizing it. Just as we fall in love with our spouse, and then nurture that relationship through all the years of our lives together, we also fall in love with God and Jesus Christ, then grow in that love and faith throughout our eternal lives. Do you really think you know what faith is all about? Are you confidant in your grasp of it?
Perhaps now you are thinking... “Maybe not.”
Seeking out our salvation with all our heart will seal us in God’s purpose with the wax of Christ. Then, as our marriage and our faith are intended to be... we will live in them, and they in us... one in flesh with our spouse, and the other in spirit with God and Jesus Christ.
“For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Romans 8:38-39 ESV
Prayer:
Father, I thank you for the mystery that is your endless depth and breadth. I thank you for every glimpse into who you are, and the love that sustains me as I search your vastness. I thank you Father for the model I have in my life; through my marriage, and the love I feel for my wife. Help me Lord to withstand the growing pains of my relationship with you... much like you help me in my earthly relationship. Lead me in obeying your will even when I don’t fully understand it. Let my trust and love be sufficient in the times when walking away from you would appear to be easy. Bring me to the place where I can look out over the valleys we have thus far traversed and understand that it has been good. In that moment I know that our voices will be one as I join with you in harmony saying aloud “It is good!” I praise you Holy Father for leading me on in this magnificent journey of faith, and I lift up your name before all who will hear my voice, and in every place I find myself. You are the mystery that thrills me, and the love that causes me to tremble at the thought of losing it. Great are you Heavenly Father, and greatly to be praised.
Rich Forbes