Marriage: For better or worse

Would you marry a man who you didn't trust could protect you? Or would you marry a woman who you thought would leave you when you're at your lowest point?

 Personally I am not married but even for those of you who aren't as well or are married i am sure everyone knows what they would expect out of a significant other right? But something to ponder on while reading the message -- what is your significant other expecting of you?

I always knew that the church as the bride and Jesus was the bridegroom but i never really put it into context in terms of marriage. Over the last couple of days i have been feeling guilty cause i was slacking with spending time with God not just in the morning but throughout the day. Yesterday i listened to this really good poem called "ready or not" ( Watch here  ) for the second time and the Lord spoke to me concerning it when i woke up today.

HE said that I am married to HIM and that even regular married couples spend a quality amount of time together so why wasn't i spending much time with HIM? If i was married or even dating someone I would communicate with them at least everyday not because i was forced to but because I was glad too. When we have someone special in our lives we think about them constantly as they are on our mind a lot. So i ask, why is it than we can occupy our minds with mere human beings and not the ONE who died on the cross for our sins?

John 15:13 says "Greater love had no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends"

Then John 10:11 tells us that Jesus is the good Shepard and He will give up His life for us (which he already did). HE paid the price for us even while we were yet sinners but we spend more time with people that can not give us even half if what HE gave. Whether we admit it or not, no matter how much a person claims to love someone they will probably still  hurt them whether it was their intent to do so or not. Relationships don't work out most of the time because people have "no tolerance for your worst" and I'm sure we can think about some character we have that could push people away. We even cheat on GOD sometimes but i'm thankful that when He said He was in it for better or worse He actually meant it.

There is only so much the human vessel will agree to take but God is in it for the good, the bad, and the ugly. But you know why people in relationships can only tolerate another person only to an extent? Well it's because they haven't gasped what a real RELATIONSHIP is about. How can you love someone for better or worse if you don't understand Jesus Christ? Jesus is LOVE and until you are thoroughly committed in the relationship with HIM other relationships or should i say MARRIAGES won't work out.

 Well you might say i don't have anyone i am in a relationship with but i'm not just talking about a significant other this is also relevant in FRIENDSHIPS as well. Being someone's friend is also like being married to them cause they shouldn't leave you when you need them the most right? You share your life and emotions with them right? When you've been good friends with someone and they get another best friend forgetting all about you it hurts right? I don't know about you but for ME it most definitely hurts, hence I call it a MARRIAGE.

I had to realize that until i learn to see others with the eyes of God Relationship just won't work. For us to be able to have a real relationship with another person we have to first have a working MARRIAGE with God. We are taught to love our neighbors with the Love of God but how can we love them if we don't know what that LOVE looks like? Since God is LOVE we have to spend time with "LOVE" to understand how love behaves, endures, rejoices, and tolerates.

The ultimate partner one can ever have is GOD. The most important Marriage or Relationship one can have is the one with God. Going back to the questions i stated at the beginning of this post- what is your significant partner expecting from you? Well ask HIM in prayer! Yea we all have a list of what we want in a partner and God meets our requirements but the question is do we meet HIS?

My brothers in Christ you can't know how to protect your woman if you don't have a relationship with the PROTECTOR. My sisters how can we submit to our men if we can't submit to GOD first? One of our most common excuses is that building a relationship takes time but aren't we MARRIED to the author of time? Lets not try to manipulate "time" as a means of doing things in an order that pleases our flesh but start today! The signs as we an see are clear that the BRIDEGROOM is coming back soon for His BRIDE so lets be ready for not just Him but for everyone He is sending into our life as well!