Bride of Christ

In this day and age there seem to be a lot of women, both young and old, who idolize the thought of being married. Some do it secretly, and some do it very publicly. The idea of marriage is not a bad thing, but our unmarried season would be more productive if we were to take our focus & desire of being married to a physical man and put that energy into being the bride of Christ. The first step towards being the bride of Christ is knowing who you are, and accepting it.
 
      Who are we? We are joint heirs with Christ, but we are also his beloved. We are the one who He loves. We are His beautiful Bride. Christ takes great delight in us even in our immaturity, flaws, and our weaknesses. ("For the Lord takes delight in his people; he crowns the humble with salvation-Psalm 149:4") A perfect example of this is the maiden from the Song of Solomon. The bible says that she was dark but lovely ("Dark am I, yet lovely"- Song of Solomon 1:5a), but this wasn't just referring to her skin or outward beauty. It is also another way of referring to the fact that we are dark in sin, as we are all born of a sinful nature (I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature-Romans 7:18), yet lovely to God. She recognized that Christ has the ability to see into our hearts. He can see our most vulnerable areas as well as those areas we haven't fully surrendered all the way over to Him, yet again He still delights in us. We're still lovely to Him even though we ourselves have things that we struggle with in life. Whether it is insecurities within us about our body(our hair, our skin, etc) or outward situation that we deal with concerning the situations and people in our lives( our finances, relationships, jobs, etc)… Jesus still takes great pleasure in us.

     In order to really know who you are you have to have a revelation of God's character and personality. God is loving, as a matter of fact God is just simply love. When He sees us, He looks at us through eyes of grace, eyes that are tender, compassionate, and understanding. It's often said that beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, so if we were created in the image of God, of course He looks at us (just as we are right now) & still  sees our beauty. Not only that, but He sees our worth, He sees our potential, and He sees our purpose.

    
     From the beginning of time we were created to be God's Companion, His Bride, and that is apart of our eternal destiny. How marvelous is that!? We will be seated on the throne with Him for all eternity ("To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne"-Revelation 3:21) so why not spend your time [now] allowing Him to fully captivate your heart? Why not let down your guards and allow yourself to fall in love with the one who loved you first; the one that will never stop loving you. (Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; His love endures forever-Psalm 118:1)

     Allow that desire, hunger, and fire to know more of Jesus to be birthed in you, so that you can walk closer with Him. When you do, He will come in with His tender love and encourage you. He will build you up. He will reaffirm you. He will challenge and strengthen you. Trust and know that it is a process, but one that is very well worth it.

--
Roneshia N. Shaw

Isaiah 40:31
But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew [their] strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; [and] they shall walk, and not faint.