Dating and Marriage

"Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church--for we are members of his body."

--Ephesians 5:25-30


In this metaphor for Christ and the church, Jesus is obviously the groom and we, as the church, are His bride. This language of marriage is incredibly refreshing and has helped me experience the depth of what it means to be in a relationship with Christ. It isn't a relationship like dating someone, it is like being married to someone. Now, granted, I do not have any idea of what it is like to be married to someone, but I know that it has got to be a lot sweeter than dating someone! I have been dating this girl for over 3 years now, don't get me wrong, it is amazing to be in this relationship with her...but, being married to someone has to be so much better than dating!

I have been thinking more and more about this marriage metaphor God uses to describe our relationship to Him. It is much different than a dating relationship. Dating feels good, but it is very vague in terms of actual responsibility. Marriage, on the other hand, is very clear...just think about the vows you hear at every wedding you have ever been to; "For richer or poorer, in sickness and health, as long as you both shall live." It is saying, "You will be together FOREVER...there is no backing out of this one!" It seems like somewhere along the way, we as the church decided we'd rather just date Jesus instead of marry him.

It's a lack of responsibility.

A lack of commitment.

We are not fully committed to Him. We cheat on Him every single day by putting other things that are less important above Him, the God of this universe.

Jesus wants our everything. He doesn't want a loose idea of what our relationship will look like...He doesn't want to "date" us. He wants to marry us! He wants to have that intimate of a relationship with each and every one of us! Can you imagine that? The God of this world; the God who created you and this entire universe that you live in wants to be in communion with all of us! Not just any kind of communion...holy matrimony kind of communion. How amazing is that?!

My prayer is that we can look at our lives and see if we are in a relationship with Christ. And if we are, what kind of relationship do we have with Him?

Is it a dating relationship where we just go to Him when it is convenient? Do we just pray before a meal and forget about God for the rest of the day?

Or are we really married to Christ? Are we all in for Him? Is He the most important part of our life? Are we putting Him above all else in our lives and giving Him control of ourselves?