[Lilole`me]

[...if you are a guy and you read this despite the title, i commend you and i promise it applies to you too!]

So I have this new found obsession with the show "bridezillas". I'm not sure why...maybe it makes me feel like a saint, or it just entertains me to see how crazy these girls get. And how crazy these guys are for marrying them.

As I was watching it earlier today I thought, why is everyone into having "The Perfect Wedding", or "The Wedding of the Century"? And when things aren't perfect, why the monster like meltdown or blowup? Do these people only care about their wedding day? What about their marriage?
This is not to say that there aren't things that I want and do not want for my "big day" as well. But I don't care as much about the perfect wedding, I want to marry the man who is perfect for me. I want a great marriage...not just a great wedding. I want my heart to be prepared for a lifetime, not just a day. Because that day is only the beginning of a lifetime commitment.

Then it got me to thinking along a different line. About another wedding that is yet to take place. I remembered how we as the church are the Bride of Christ, and we are to be "without spot or wrinkle". It made me think back to those "bridezilla's".
There was this one girl who was trying on her dress for her final fitting before her wedding. She smiled at herself in the mirror, and then began to exam her dress for the slightest imperfection. And suddenly, the smile faded as she asked "what is that?!" She found a spot on the dress, which was invisible to any eye but the microscopic bridezilla's vision. She began to insist on that spot being removed, no matter the cost, no matter the fact that no one else would notice it...SHE knew it was there, and it could NOT stay there.

Now, what relevance does that have to my thoughts? ...What if we treated our lives like that as the body of Christ? What if in preparation for our wedding day (Christ's return), we truly examined every detail of our lives? What if we really ironed out every wrinkle, removed every spot, instantly...no matter the cost?
What bride would want to wear a dress that had been dragged through the mud? Or had nasty spills and smells all over it? Or was torn and ragged? Or would want to walk down the isle with her hair in knots, teeth yellow, nails broken? And What Groom would want to marry a Bride that looked like that?

And yet, if I am completely honest with myself, I realize my wedding dress (aka my life) isn't in all that glorious of condition. I have spots, and wrinkles...and often don't care to fix them instantly. Oh, how that must hurt the heart of God. To know His Bride doesn't care to be perfect for him...that she would let some stains slide here and there because "No one else will even notice them". Because for God, it's not really about the wedding, it's about the marriage. It's about an eternity of holy love, and to want nothing less than a great marriage is dishonoring.
It's time to begin to make ourselves ready. Ready for our Groom. Ready for our wedding day, but more importantly...ready for our marriage.

It's time to check those dresses we call our lives...maybe even go a little "bridezilla" on ourselves until we get it right

[I Jam For God]

Originally Posted by Lilole`me

[...if you are a guy and you read this despite the title, i commend you and i promise it applies to you too!]

So I have this new found obsession with the show "bridezillas". I'm not sure why...maybe it makes me feel like a saint, or it just entertains me to see how crazy these girls get. And how crazy these guys are for marrying them.

As I was watching it earlier today I thought, why is everyone into having "The Perfect Wedding", or "The Wedding of the Century"? And when things aren't perfect, why the monster like meltdown or blowup? Do these people only care about their wedding day? What about their marriage?
This is not to say that there aren't things that I want and do not want for my "big day" as well. But I don't care as much about the perfect wedding, I want to marry the man who is perfect for me. I want a great marriage...not just a great wedding. I want my heart to be prepared for a lifetime, not just a day. Because that day is only the beginning of a lifetime commitment.

Then it got me to thinking along a different line. About another wedding that is yet to take place. I remembered how we as the church are the Bride of Christ, and we are to be "without spot or wrinkle". It made me think back to those "bridezilla's".
There was this one girl who was trying on her dress for her final fitting before her wedding. She smiled at herself in the mirror, and then began to exam her dress for the slightest imperfection. And suddenly, the smile faded as she asked "what is that?!" She found a spot on the dress, which was invisible to any eye but the microscopic bridezilla's vision. She began to insist on that spot being removed, no matter the cost, no matter the fact that no one else would notice it...SHE knew it was there, and it could NOT stay there.

Now, what relevance does that have to my thoughts? ...What if we treated our lives like that as the body of Christ? What if in preparation for our wedding day (Christ's return), we truly examined every detail of our lives? What if we really ironed out every wrinkle, removed every spot, instantly...no matter the cost?
What bride would want to wear a dress that had been dragged through the mud? Or had nasty spills and smells all over it? Or was torn and ragged? Or would want to walk down the isle with her hair in knots, teeth yellow, nails broken? And What Groom would want to marry a Bride that looked like that?

And yet, if I am completely honest with myself, I realize my wedding dress (aka my life) isn't in all that glorious of condition. I have spots, and wrinkles...and often don't care to fix them instantly. Oh, how that must hurt the heart of God. To know His Bride doesn't care to be perfect for him...that she would let some stains slide here and there because "No one else will even notice them". Because for God, it's not really about the wedding, it's about the marriage. It's about an eternity of holy love, and to want nothing less than a great marriage is dishonoring.
It's time to begin to make ourselves ready. Ready for our Groom. Ready for our wedding day, but more importantly...ready for our marriage.

It's time to check those dresses we call our lives...maybe even go a little "bridezilla" on ourselves until we get it right

hey im a guy i get commended *yay*. but seriously, that was cool. it made sense. its amazing how we can draw biblical parallels about just about anything in the world. thank you for that cool devotion thingy w/e u want to call it

[Pablo Crucelli]

Woop for being commended!!
But dude - awesome man. It's a really good way of looking at out lives and re-evalutate how we live.
Thank you for sharing.
God bless you!
Paul