Recently, I had the privilege of attending a beautiful wedding. I also have been talking to several brides-to-be about their wedding plans, specifically their photography needs. When you speak to a bride, it is obvious that she is preparing every detail of her life around her wedding. She picks out the right colors, decides on the perfect dress, chooses just the right venue. Every single detail of her life is chosen with great care and prepared far ahead of time. This reminds me of how the bride of Christ prepares for her wedding day…
Brides are intentional
A bride wants to be perfect for her groom. She is secure in his love for her, but still, she desires to please him. To ‘wow’ him with her beauty and perfection.
She wants to present herself as a beautiful, pure, perfect bride to the man she loves with her whole heart.
She doesn’t count it as work; she doesn’t complain. She joyfully works day after day to be ready. Nothing is too hard, it is worth everything. (Isaiah 61:10 ,Revelation 19:7 )
We are the bride of Christ
Isn’t this the picture of a Christian preparing for their Lord? Jesus is the Groom, returning to meet His bride, and we need to be ready! Not because we are afraid, or because we ‘must’ do certain things, but because we want our Beloved to find us perfect – a pure, beautiful bride with no stains or filth of this world attached to us.
Our hearts overflow with love for our groom, and we can’t wait for Him to see us gowned in white, spotless from head to toe, clean and sweet-smelling, all just for Him! We don’t miss a detail in our preparations, we get every tiny area just right.
Nothing is done from fear – all activity flows from a heart of devotion and pure love, filled with the joy of giving Him the best that we can present. (2 Peter 3:14 , Revelation 21:9, Revelation 19:9)
We have different standards
We see this as right and good when it is a bride. We smile and clap and praise her for her efforts. But why is it when a Christian prepares for their wedding day with the same attention to detail, we make sure to remind them “we are under grace” and “God doesn’t have a set of rules”? Can we not see that the true bride of Christ will be preparing for her wedding day just as meticulously as any earthly bride?
We know Jesus loves us with the ultimate love, yet we still desire to present Him with a pure and spotless Bride. To purify ourselves from the stains of this world; the love of money, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life, these are the goals of a sincere Christian.
To renounce all other loves for our one true Love – this is what we expect of a bride, and this is what He expects of us. What man in his right mind would want to tie himself to a woman who took marriage lightly? If the bride said: “Oh, I love him the most but I still like to date other guys once in a while.” No, that wouldn’t work. That would be preposterous! Yet we try to date around while saying we are the bride of Christ. He won’t have it. He wants his bride to be His alone.
We need to prepare
As the bride of Christ – are we making ready? Are we joyfully preparing every part of our lives? Are we wondering if it’s worth it? A bride knows it will be worth it – to walk down that aisle in perfection and purity. She doesn’t care about the cost. She doesn’t overlook a thing.
For further reading, check out this article with more tips for the Christian life, or this one on increasing your faith, and another that deals with our battle against Self.
Do you remember your wedding day? How excited you were?
I’d appreciate if you’d drop a comment and tell me how you see the correlation between a bride preparing, and a Christian preparing for their Bridegroom?
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