Well, it has been quite a long time since I last posted a blog post. I have been a busy man. Exactly one week ago I got married to my beautiful wife, Kara. Life has been so crazy leading up to that point, and it made it really difficult to write any kind of blog post. But, hopefully, I am back and will write. There is so much I wish to write on, and hopefully I will not slack in this. But as a transition back into blogging, I thought I would write some thoughts on marriage… I know I am a rookie… I have only been married for one week! But there is so much the Lord has taught me in this time.
My heart was greatly encouraged by our wedding on the 9th of October. As we prepared for the wedding, Kara and I strived our hardest to point as much as we could back to the Gospel, back to what Christ has done for us and his great love for his Church, since Paul tells us in Ephesians 5 that marriage “refers to Christ and the Church”. Waiting for the wedding to start, I just wanted to see and talk to Kara. I was getting married to her, and I hadn’t talked to her all day! But I wouldn’t see her until her father would walk her down the aisle. All kinds of emotions were hitting me at once.
As Kara was walked down the aisle by her father, two things greatly hit me. First, I was joyful that after almost 2 years of waiting, I was about to be married to my bride. I had waiting for my bride, and now that waiting was coming to fruition. And it was well worth the wait! I would soon get to kiss her, hold her, and lay down my life for her. But likewise, and as Andrew publicly pointed out to all, I was thinking of Christ and the Church. I was thinking of the Father presenting the Church, without spot or blemish, to Christ on their wedding day. That the joy and love I was feeling towards Kara at that moment, with all the anticipation that my wait is finally over, is a small glimpse of the love that Christ has for the Church, yet Christ’s love is magnified a thousand times over. And he is now patiently waiting for his bride in love…
It is a totally new experience to actually be married and think on this. I have thought and studied the fact that marriage points to Christ’s faithfulness and love toward the Church. I knew this back and forth. But it is a completely different thing to experience a passionate love in your heart and say, “The joy and love that I feel right now is but a tiny glimpse of the passion and love and joy that Christ has for me!” It has brought a whole new light to this verse, which completely destroyed me at Andrew and Hilary’s wedding: “As the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.” – Isaiah 62:5
