"The Purification of The Bride" -3

"Hearken, O daughters, and consider, and incline thine ear; forget also thine own people, and thy father's house; so shall the King greatly desire thy beauty: for He is thy Lord; and worship Him." (Psalms 45:10 & 11) Something else that I think we should consider, although I know it is not a mystery, is how much God loves us compared to how much we deserve to be loved; not that we are unlovable in His eyes, but that we fall so short of returning our love to Him in the way that He loves us. Usually when a bride is preparing herself for marriage, there are certain apprehensions that come to mind, things like, is this the right one, or will I be well taken care of, or how will this look when we are old. Things that add a little mystery to the journey that is ahead, but things that can also make the journey worth taking, and give meaning to the worth of getting married to someone that you will grow old with. With the Lord there is no such mystery; with the Lord, we do not need to be concerned with our welfare or where we will end up, because He is our Lord, the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End; He is Life, Love, and the Word of God, and in Him is security for ever and ever. Remember Who it is that is speaking, and the manner in which He is speaking is for instruction; meaning that we are to listen and obey, because God is giving us the picture of a very special wedding between His Son and the church, which is you and I. He started off with the image of the Son, the King of Glory, the Mighty One; to now show us the image of who we are, and how we must prepare ourselves to become; which is really not much different from the way a bride prepares herself for her very special day, except on a much more spiritual scale. Not that we need a Ben Franklin Scale, although we are instructed to weigh the cost, but that we need to examine who we are compared to what we are to be, and measure that against Who He is and what He will make us to be; which are those things on a much smaller scale that a bride considers and dwells upon before her marriage day. Finally, God's instruction to what we are to do, and why we are to do it: "for He is thy Lord; and worship Him"; any questions left out there about whether or not we are to worship Jesus Christ have been erased, for God Himself has made it clear where He stands on the issue. So really, all the issues and concerns have already been settled; we have nothing that is holding us back but our own lack of understanding... "But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall: for so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." (2 Peter 1:9-11)