The Father's Gift9/30/2016  Gifts are a sign of love. We give gifts to those we care about and love. For some, gifts are a love language and by the giving and receiving of them express and receive love. The bestowing of gifts is the physical demonstration of the delight, satisfaction, and acceptance of one for another. So gifts are something to be treasured and appreciated as visible outpourings of love. In light of this, did you know that the Father has bestowed a gift to His Son, Jesus Christ? We are God’s gift to Christ. Now this is not stated in a prideful sort of mindset—unlike some men who think they’re God’s gift to women or vice versa!—rather, it’s what Jesus says of us. Look at this verse towards the end of our Savior’s prayer: “Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.” ~John 17:24 Who are the “they”? We are! We are the ones the Father has given to the Son. This is radical. We often think of Jesus as God’s love offering to us, when in fact it’s the other way around. Jesus did not come to earth and die on the cross out of His great love for us. No! It was because He so loved the Father that He became obedient even unto death. God the Father is one who loved and has loved us from the beginning of the world, and who was willing to pay the ultimate price to reconcile us with Him. Knowing Jesus would obey and love Him enough to fulfill His plan, God then gave us—His beloved redeemed children—as a love offering to Christ. Scripture tells us that the Church is Christ’s Bride. In our culture, the receiving of a bride doesn’t have much significance as a gift; it just shows that two people are in love and desire to get married. However, in biblical times, all marriages were arranged by the fathers. So the receiving of a bride was in essence a gift from the father to his son. Therefore, to further appreciate the analogy of the Church as Christ’s Bride, God is like the fathers of long ago, who chose and arranged the marriage for their sons. And God chose us to be the perfect Bride for His blameless, obedient Son, and arranged for us to be clothed in purity and righteousness. This is His love gift to His one and only Son who gave His life in obedience to Him. Jesus is the joyful recipient of this gift—us!—and shows His excitement when He prayed, “I desire that they….may be with me where I am, to see my glory.” He wants to show us the glory God has given Him. Just like an excited groom desires to show his intended all that he has and will be sharing with his future bride, so also Jesus, the Heavenly Bridegroom, prays that we, His ransomed Bride, may join Him in paradise so He may show us all that He’s received from the Father and will share with us. What an amazing and beautiful picture! So in light of all this, the question you must ask yourself is…are YOU living your life as one worthy of being called the Bride of Christ? Are you preparing and getting ready for the great wedding day? Or are you flirting with other lovers that the world sends to distract us from our eternal Bridegroom? Are you puffed up with pride and thinking of yourself as better than others since you are God’s gift to Christ? Or are you rather humbled and amazed by the undue honor of being chosen as His Bride? We, in and of ourselves, are so unworthy to be called children of God let alone the Bride of Christ. Yet despite all our baggage and shortcomings, God in His love and grace chose to redeem and give us as a gift to the Son in whom He is well pleased. But beware! The marriage supper of the Lamb is coming soon, so be ready! We don’t want to be caught unprepared, but rather ready and expectantly waiting for the appearance of our promised Bridegroom. Therefore, spend your days getting to know your loving Father more deeply and His perfect Son—the One who has ransomed and redeemed you from your brokenness and is joyfully preparing a place for you and is waiting to receive you as His love offering from the Father. So let us live our lives in ways that honor and bring glory to the high calling we have received! “‘Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure’— for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.” ~Revelation 19:7-8 Ladies ~ if you were encouraged by this post and the concept of Christ as our heavenly Bridegroom, check out the new section, Girls Corner.
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