The Bride

Dressed all in white, the bride steps into the aisle of the church. She is radiant with joy. Her feet are light. Her eyes shine with love as she catches sight of her groom. The music begins to play and she slowly walks toward him. She can’t take her eyes off of his face. The love she sees there takes her breath away.

Her groom. Her husband.

With every step she takes, her eyes are locked on his. She doesn’t notice the cameras, the people standing and oohing and ahhing over how beautiful she looks. She just keeps looking at her groom.

As she reaches him, he steps forward and takes her hands. Still, her eyes are gazing into his. So much love. So much joy. So much expectation.

The Pastor performs the ceremony but she barely hears what he has to say because she keeps staring at the groom. She can hardly believe he loves her this much. She can’t believe she’s getting married to the one whom her soul loves. The joy is unmistakable on her face. The safety and security she feels in his love at that moment, nothing can shake it.

In the audience, things are happening. A baby is crying. Someone is sneezing and sick. Someone is getting a message of things gone wrong. Someone steps out to handle problems. Kids climb the backs of the seats.

But the bride sees none of that. She hears none of the noise. She sees none of the problems going on. She only has eyes for her groom. It’s as if nothing else matters. Part of her mind registers that things are happening, but they are not the priority. Her groom is.

As the ceremony ends, she walks out hand in hand with her groom. During the reception, her eyes continually find his. She can’t stop looking at him. She’s so in love. And He’s so in love with her. His hand continues to reach for hers as they circle the room, as they greet the guests. He’s never far, always close enough to touch.

They sit down to eat dinner and he makes sure her plate is full, and that she has all she needs. She leans her head on his shoulder occasionally just because it feels so good to lean on him. He is steady. He is strong. If anything were to happen, he would protect her. She knows that. He loves her.

There is a noise, a commotion. She turns her head to see what the problem is. She begins to frown. Her husband gently takes her chin and turns her face back to his. It’s Ok, his look says. I’ve got this. You don’t have to worry about it. She relaxes. As she looks at his face, her own frown softens back into a smile. She doesn’t have to worry about it because he will take care of it for her.

As they open presents later, he carefully handles anything that looks heavy for her to carry. He carries it for her. He will always lift the heavy things for her. He will always carry what is too much for her to carry. He will always be there to help her when things get hard because things always do. She has only to glance at him again, to catch his eyes, and she knows that he is there and that he will always be there.

This is love.

My friends, if you are thinking this sounds like a fairy tale and marriage really isn’t like this, I’d have to agree… except… this is not about an ordinary groom. This is about Jesus.

Jesus refers to himself as the bridegroom many times throughout the bible. He is the groom and we, as believers, are his bride. You, my beautiful friend, are the bride of Christ. And oh, how He loves you.

Please, go back and reread the passage about the bride. Reread it with new eyes. Put yourself in the place of the bride and place Jesus into the role of the groom. See how as your eyes are on Jesus, you feel His love. You feel His devotion to you, His protection, His hand holding yours. His promise to protect you and carry what is too heavy to lift.

Go back and reread it. And feel the love of Jesus.