|
 “Hurry to me, my love, and be like a gazelle or a young stag on the mountains of spices.” Song of Solomon 8:14 Engagement is a sweet time, but it also kind of sucks. You love this person and are officially going to be living this lifetime together. You want to plan and dream your future together, but you can’t spend all your time together. You also can’t be intimate in all the ways you would like to be either. It’s a LOT of waiting for a LOT of wonderful things! I remember when my friends Rachael and Dakota were engaged. For more than half of their engagement they were apart because Dakota was support raising and Rachael was in Durango. Most of their communication had to be over the phone or crunched into weekends together. I really admire how they walked through their engagement with pure actions and time well-spent together. But it was also hard! I remember talking to Rachael about how difficult it was to keep things up with Dakota so far away. Trying to plan a wedding on Maui while she lived in Colorado, with a fiancé who lives far away is not only hard logistically but emotionally. I remember telling her how this is such a short time, and soon enough they would be together 24/7! Now they have been married for a year and a half, that 7 month engagement time was short compared to the time they have been together – especially the time they will have spent together considering they promised til death do you part! The time of engagement reflects the time on earth while we wait to see Jesus face-to-face. It’s our time of sanctification, preparing ourselves for the Marriage Feast of the Lamb. Engagement is mainly a time of preparing for not only your wedding day, but your marriage that begins that moment. Learning what it means to be a wife and husband, talking through expectations, etc. Back in Jesus’ day, when a couple became betrothed, the bride would prepare herself for the wedding day and for the marriage by getting her gown ready and getting future household things together. The groom would focus on building a home for the two of them onto his father’s house. Everyone in town would know the day that the wedding was going to happen, but no one knew the hour that he would go get his bride. So the bride would need to be ready for him at any moment! He would come through the streets with trumpets blaring and people would join in this procession to go to the bride’s house. This is all reflecting how Jesus will come back for us, His church! 1 John 3:2-3 says, “Dear friends, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself just as He is pure.” Jesus said in John 14:1-3, “ ‘Your heart must not be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if not, I would have told you. I am going away to prepare a place for you. If I go away and prepare a place for you, I will come back and receive you to Myself, so that where I am you may be also.’ “ Jesus also told His disciples in Matthew 24:30-31, 36, “ ‘Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky. And then all the peoples of the earth will mourn; and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. He will send out His angels with a loud trumpet, and they will gather His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other… Now concerning the day and the hour no one knows – neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son – except the Father only.’ “ Isn’t that cool?! Jesus left, sent us His promised Holy Spirit as His promise of marriage, and is preparing a place for us to come home to. When we receive Jesus into our lives, we become pure more and more over time. Then, when He comes back – at a time we don’t know exactly – He will enter with trumpets and a procession from above. And we will be here, waiting for Him, preparing for our eternal home with Jesus! It seems like it’s taking forever, but the cool thing is, in light of eternity, this is just a blip on our timeline with Jesus forever. How are you using your engagement period with the Lord? Are you preparing yourself in purity? Are you storing treasure in heaven? Are you making heavenly investments? Or do you need to get cracking, cause Jesus is a comin’?! Oh Lord Jesus, Please come soon!! I love that you are with me always, but I do desire greater intimacy with you. I look forward to heaven, so help me to use my time wisely here on earth. Help me invest in people by sharing the gospel and discipling other believers. Help refine my character, my actions and my heart. When you come back, let me look radiant for you! In Your Awesome Name I pray…
About Leah Leah works with Master Plan Ministries at Fort Lewis College in Durango, CO. Other than watching college students' lives change, she enjoys getting her mind blown by God and His Word, watching sci fi, baking cupcakes, and spending time with her hunky husband. If you'd like to read more from this contributor, type her name in the search box on the top right.
Sharing this over at these awesome blogs.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
