How’s Your Love Life?
“For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.” Ephesians 5:31-32
Our class often gets asked in Sunday School how our relationship with Christ is going, or are we putting Him first in our lives, or other questions pertaining to our commitment to Jesus Christ. I suppose the reason for these questions is that folks need to be reminded of their relationship to the One who suffered and died to provide forgiveness of sin and to reconcile us back to the Father. But why do we need to be reminded? Shouldn’t our commitment to Jesus be so strong and vibrant that no one should have to question us about it?
When these questions come up, I often think about how that our relationship to Christ is like that of our relationship to our spouse. Scripture symbolizes the relationship between Christ and the church, the body of believers, as that of a husband and wife. That is about the best analogy that can be made because the bond between two people who have pledged their lives and love to one another should be so strong that it can’t be broken except by death. However, we all know that not all marriages stand the test of time due to all sorts of reasons. That is sad, but that’s the way it is in the world in which we live. In the same way, our commitment to Christ can be challenged by all sorts of distractions, hardships, and, unfortunately, too much selfishness which causes some to question the strength of our relationship with our Lord and Savior.
For those who have endured through thick and thin, through good times and bad, sometimes hitting the potholes on the road of family life, these are the ones who have shown an undying commitment to the one with whom they have promised to finish their course in life no matter the obstacles that come their way. And this is what it means to be committed to Christ. If you think about it, believers are married to Christ. When we repent of our sins and place our faith in Him, we become part of the “bride of Christ” (Revelation 21:9). When this old sin-cursed world is wrapped up, when that proverbial “fat lady sings”, and time as we know it will be no more, Christ and His bride will attend the “marriage supper of the Lamb” (Revelation 19:9), the biggest and most joyous of all wedding receptions, and then the “honeymoon” will last for all eternity!
When the question arises about my relationship to the Lord, I think about my relationship to my husband. We were married a little over 37 years when he passed away. He was my husband, and I was his wife. Every action, every word, and every thought that either of us had reflected upon the other. We were, as scripture says, “one flesh”. Christ was and is first in my life, but my husband came in second, as I came in second in his life. Neither of us ever wanted to do something that hurt the other. We were committed to each other. It was not his life nor my life, but our life. This is how God meant for marriages on earth to be, and it is certainly how He meant for our “marriage” to Christ to be. Yes, it is a mystery, as Paul wrote, but one that I can certainly live with and rejoice in forever more.