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| Christ and His Church |
Matthew
22:37-40 NKJV 37 Jesus said to him, "'You shall love
the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your
mind.' 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And
the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' 40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and
the Prophets."
Jesus told
us two principles: love toward God (Deut. 6:5) and love toward our neighbor
(Leviticus 19:18) In remembering those early years of Sunday School and our Mrs.
Taylor, I remember the love she spoke with when referring us back to the
commandments of God. I remember how she gave Scripture and spoke of Moses walk
up that mountain to wait diligently on God, to hear and carry down those wonderful
words that God prepared for His people.
Mrs. Taylor
would take those commands of us and reveal the importance of them for our
lives. In those listed as the first four, we find the “relationship’ with God
and the last six commands dealt with yes, the relationship with “the fellow man”.
For those
who find friendship engaging, will find devotion time with God like a real
workout indeed! Finding that time, yes the quiet, is sometimes hard to locate in
any one day. Still to know someone, you must remove some things and people from
your life to make room for the new person.
In coming
into a major year of marriage UNION for my husband and myself, I find I still seem to
know so little of him. I ask questions and even ask what I might should know of
what would be on his mind for that moment or day or what his day was actually
like without trying to read his facial expressions.
Sometimes I
can calculate by hearing his voice if it was a fruitful day for him and those
around him.
Relationship always involves other people. We find that in regard
to the relationship of Christ and His church.
Revelation
21:1-4 Then I saw a new sky (heaven) and
a new earth, for the former sky and former earth had passed away (vanished),
and there no longer existed any sea. (Isa 65:17) 2 And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem,
descending out of heaven from God, all arrayed like a bride beautified and
adorned for her husband; 3 Then I heard
a mighty voice from the throne and I perceived its distinct words, saying,
saying, See! The abode of God is with men, and He will live (encamp, tent)
among them; and they shall be His people and God shall personally be with them
and be their God. (Ezekiel 37:27) 4 God will wipe away every tear from their
eyes; and death shall be no more, neither shall there be anguish (sorrow and
mourning) nor grief nor pain any more, for the old conditions and the former order
of things have passed away. (Isaiah 25:8; Isaiah 35:10)
For us we
are in the period preceding what we find in Revelation 19:7-9. Amplified Bible
states: Let us rejoice and shout for joy[ exulting and triumphant]! Let us
celebrate and ascribe to Him glory and honor, for the marriage of the Lamb [at
last] has come, and His bride has prepared herself. (Psalm 118:24) 8 She has been permitted to dress in fine
(radiant) linen, dazzling and white-----for the fine linen is (signified, represents,)
the righteousness (the upright, just and godly living, deeds and conduct and
right standing with God) of the saints ( God’s holy people). 9 Then the [angel]
said to me, Write this down: Blessed (happy, to be envied) are those who are
summoned (invited ,called) to the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he said to
me [further], these are the true words (the genuine & exact declarations) of
God.
If I had to
have had a regular time of meeting with the man I was betrothed to, would not
we need the regular meeting time to get to know one another AS WITH CHRIST?
Amos 3:3 asks the
question, “Can two walk together, unless they are agreed?” YOU certainly have
to meet with your betrothed more than once a week. Our meetings must take place
often, especially in regard to the Husband to His Church.
I like the amplified Bible for this verse: Do two walk together except they make an appointment and have agreed?
In our own
planning, my future husband was going away to start his education in this city. Fall rolled around and he was off! So when the wedding date came around in the winter, all the plans were made, all things in place to
be married and to make the final move to an area new to us both. We then had
evenings together, meals to plan and future things to consider!
I know of married couples and each still have their times out with their girl friends and the husband
with his friends. Seems like it should be that which regards the marriage unit
of a couple to meet with other couples, right? Each of us as an individual had come into a relationship
where two are considered and not just one merely choosing their “free time” to
be with friends or making plans for a trip with girl friends.
When I
considered marriage, did I consider it a serious matter? Did I look at what we
had together in fellowship and what topics we had enjoyed as “that couple”?
Because as the New Year began, we began as the couple who assembled together
for the ride to the grocery store, the ride over to the shopping center, we
assembled together for entertainment and even paying taxes!
So in
consideration that being the Church, being married to our Husband who is God,
do we see the importance at the spiritual level to be a part of what is His
plan?
For me, I
can only speak of what I ask Him for those I am seeking to pray for….as early
this morning and seeing some men in a dangerous place. I ask for His knowledge
and how I might pray for them and then I prayed. I even got agreement with my husband for those men's safety in the workplace! When my husband is home and we have our quiet time, we pray together,
some evenings we have scripture that we read over and talk about. We have times
while just taking a ride over the mountain & within conversation discover that we had the same
conversations with God just the day before!
I am still
learning much of my husband’s heart, his humor and his pain. I continue to ask
him questions maybe when he is not ready, but in truth we expect to be a part of
each other’s lives for a very long time. If we know eternity is on the line,
will we seek that time to know Him even more?
I am
thankful for Mrs. Taylor….may she rest in peace ……for I will see her lovely
face and remind her one day of those important things she gave to me and my dad when we
both sat before her in that Sunday School class! I will remind her of those important commands that we love God and we love our neighbor!
New teaching at: Voice of Prayer
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