“Do not be unequally yoked together
with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or
what fellowship has light with darkness?” (1 Cor. 6:14).
Hey
Gang: I am so sad that the children of
our land have been denied God’s wonderful joys, the joy of anticipation, the
joy of that moment when the groom stands at the altar and sees his bride
standing in her gown of silk and satin.
Is there words that can describe the awesomeness of that moment knowing
that soon she will be united to me as my bride? - That we will unite our hearts
and body with the Holy Spirit in a “strand
of three that cannot be broken” (Ecc.
4:9-12).
How sad that
God, in His perfection, who loved us so much that He promised us He would give
us the desires of our heart. Yet, most
young lasses do not even have their hope chest,
for that day when the knight in shining armor that God prepared for her
rides into her life on a great white stallion and sweeps her off her feet.
I feel so
sad that so many of our young have chosen the ways of the world and will never
realize the true beauty and wonder of standing before our heavenly Father and
family and friends and saying, “Yes, I do, I lay down my life sacrificially for
that God prepared person, until death do us part. I commit my all to you in covenant love for
there is no greater gift that I can give than a pledge, a solemn vow that at
this very moment, before God that I lay down my life for you.”
How sad that
our young people are robbed of the anticipation of waiting for that moment at
the altar. Solomon had such a moment
when he saw his Shulammite bride, “How
beautiful you are, my darling,…You have made my heart beat faster, my sister,
my bride; You have made my heart beat faster with a single glance of your eyes,
with a single strand of our necklace”.
Fifty-eight
plus years have passed since I met my bride at the altar and heard her father
say, “I now pronounce, to God and to the world, that you are husband and wife –
let nothing but death separate you.”
I have
relived that moment, when I saw my bride for the first time in her wedding gown,
a zillion times and, as I grow older, it has become even more warm and
comforting. Was there never a times in
the fifty-eight years when divorce was considered or even given thought? No. We made a vow at our wedding that there
would never be a divorce in our relationship.
Were there
times when the rubber-hit-the road and the alligators were trying to nip at our
relationship? Yes, yes and more
yes. Satan has always been lurking in
the shadows awaiting a more opportune time to drive wedges into our love for
each other. When two people are put
together, in the closeness of a marriage relationship, there will be
differences of opinion.
Each must
decide what is more important, the alligators or the relationship. We made a vow in the early beginning that
our marriage would not be a fifty-fifty relationship, but a ninety nine – one
relationship.
Well I did
not mean this to be a sermon on the perfect marriage; our pastor has been
preaching a series of messages titled “The Waiting Games”. In one of the messages he focused on Jesus
warning to not be “Unequally yoked together”.
The Pastor’s warning was- if you feel that through your witness your
unsaved mate will find the Lord, be advised this has proven to work far more in
the opposite direction. The believer usually
gets caught up in the life style of the unbeliever.
I confess
that my bride violated this mandate from the Lord for when she consented to
marry me, for I had head knowledge but no heart knowledge; that came years
later. I pray all who read this epistle
will be equally yoked and on fire for the Lord.
We are in that Valentine season designed and promoted by Hallmark. It is neat to send a card that says, “I care
and even love you” but keep in mind where that card goes. Daily action and words and on-going contact
and prayer for them is more effective.
Blessings,
Gramps
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