No, people are not "saved" because they love Jesus; they seek salvation because they fear the consequences! Love comes from the relationship born-again persons have with the one who recreates them, more in his image this time than at the first birth. Salvation, according to the Bible is not based on love, it's avoiding "burning" for hell has the fury of flaming fire. We seek Jesus to avoid eternal damnation. Our love for Jesus is demonstrated by obeying him, and in doing so a relationship blossoms. What we once did in obedience becomes love through obedience. Obedience is the mechanism which makes love grow. With the infilling of the Holy Spirit Jesus and the born again person become one!
Jesus likens being "born again" to a "marriage". He calls himself the bridegroom and the church the bride. The "church" is that "institution" to which one belongs after being born again. Before they were a lone individual, but with being born again, Christians lose their individualism and become part of the institution. Those who are new persons at salvation give up their individual identity and their parent, the "world", and live in the New World, the institution called "the kingdom of God". It's a spiritual institution where their is hope, faith and joy! It's "the church" and the institution are for those who have known the bridegroom and are faithful to him. To be part of the church requires trust in Jesus.
We are born again because we fear burning! Likewise, Paul says "it's better to marry than to burn". (1 Cor 7:9). It doesn't say that we are to marry because we love one another. We only promise to do that. As with "loving God" that's not part of our marriage with him, likewise "loving" our betrothed isn't something we have, but promise to do! For those within the church there are those whose desire is to undermine the institution. Satan's and his demons' sole purpose is to dissolve the church and take down the institution. In a similar manner, since marriage is a picture of the church, those same demons are there to destroy the institution of marriage!
We recognize demonic influences within the church because they tempt us to do evil. We make choices and either obey God or sin. Those same evil forces are at work in a marriage. They tempt the two parties to find fault and do what's right in their own eyes. The unity is breached because evil forces desire that we remain two and dissolve what should be one; two people in unity.
With being born again we give up the world and become one with God. In marriage we give up our parents and become one with the spouse. Marriage is then a picture of the church. It's two who believe in the institution, have faith that it's is meant to be and do "works" to show love and make it successful. Work is not easy! That's why it's called "work"!
A marriage with Jesus can end in disaster! Jesus says that we can fornicate. We turn to other gods, which in effect is endeavoring to please our self, the god we have "beside" the One True God. Those who leave Jesus, leave to please the self! They cease being in unity with Jesus and become one with the world again. Unfortunately, with the institution of the church, divorce is for one time! It's not something we jump in and out of as people do in marriages. A relationship with Jesus is meant to be forever, and so too is a marriage!
Once we're in the church, and in fellowship with Jesus, our initial motivation was to have our skins saved from burning, then grows into love. As I said before, love is the outcome of doing things to please the groom. There becomes a mutual satisfaction in serving and being served. Communion develops as love grows. Remember, the relationship started in obedience, but grows as faith grows. Faith is trusting in the Lord, and as trust increases the marriage with Jesus becomes more institutionalized. It is founded on solid rock and we as individual stones with the strength of the Cornerstone (Jesus) together become invincible! As the Cornerstone, Jesus will never leave the institution of the church and will always be one with the believer!
Marriage is the same way! Out of our desire not to burn, we marry. Face it, marriages are for two reasons: companionship (Adam and his help-mate) and to quench the fire of lust (Paul's admonition). Nowhere does the Bible say that marriage is for love. "Love" is the outcome of the relationship in marriage and results because of unity with each other! Individuals cease being and thoughts become of the twain. Rather than what's good for each, it becomes what's good both. That's a marriage. It's a loss of individuality and being born a new person. You were born individuals, but born again as twins! Where once you were one with the world, now you are one new person whose characteristic is mutual benefit.
Satan works to separate the unity in marriage just as he does to destroy the church. He tries to steal the marriage partner from the church by offering a whore with which to fornicate. That "whore" is anything which causes one to take their eyes off the groom and put it on the "self". Those who fall to temptation resume their lustful relationship with the "self", their former god. It may be of course sex, but is usually any desire of self-interest. Rather than a working relationship. Satan tugs at each to "do it my way"! Before long even firm Christians who love the groom abandon him for the lust of individuality!
Marriage is the same way. Satan throws darts at the marriage, the institution of God, by conflicts. It may be money, power, independence, guilt, jealousy, irrational thinking, medical problems or any dart Satan can find in his arsenal. All are lethal and he smiles as he chooses which to use. In strong marriages Satan has to use many darts, In weak marriages with little unity and strong individualism, a small dart will do!
People fail in marriage. It's as it was when dating. When the infatuation dies, rather than working to love, people move on. In fact serial dating is training for failed marriages! Multiple marriages are caused because someone failed. They were struck by a dart from Satan and the marriage died. Failed marriages are similar to reincarnation. People are reborn again only to fail again. There is no "good karma" to be found because failure breeds failure. "Good karma" isn't in the next because good marriages aren't founded on the experiences of succumbing to Satan. Of course there is no such thing as karma anyway, but it's the same method of deceit.
People who fail in marriage don't fail each other. They fail God. His desire is that marriage be forever and that's the vowel each take. We promise to "love, honor and cherish", but marriages without unity is merely "co-existence, mistrust and neglect". That's a weak foundation and easy to topple. It takes few darts to penetrate that mere film of a barrier. Satan laughs as he hurls another dart and awaits collapse!
What do we need to do to avoid the snares of Satan in our marriage? We recognize marriage for what it is! It's being born again from one person into unity with another. It's a picture of the church and as such we're to work to make it one of love. But what is love?
1 Corinthians 13:4 (ESV) "Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never ends."Look at what love is! Patient and kind. Lovers don't snap at each other nor are they irritable, looking for a fight; seeking their own way. Lovers give the benefit of the doubt where questions exist. Lovers don't assume the worst because worse comes with thinking worse things. Love bears all things. It stands up to the darts hurled by those who endeavor to see it fail! Love is believing in and trusting the other as each individual desires the trust of the other. It shares a common hope and that hope is in success. It's commitment that drives that hope! Love endures all the snares set by Satan. It endures through the acts of defilement from those who wish it to fail. Love is not for a spell, love never ends!
Love is not where one is irritable with the other. It's applying The Golden Rule to the marriage just as we are for those of us in the church. Love isn't between two who resent each other. Love is being one together. It's not looking for the worst in others, but seeing the attributes that are there, but require clear vision. There is one way to avoid failure, that is to work on love! It's more than an emotion which lust is! It's growing in unity, and as a garden needs work to flourish, love needs work to blossom! What can go wrong with love? Love never fails!
I'm faithful in my love for Jesus. I fail him often, but he works with me. Because of his grace, I love him more as we become closer together. We will never be entirely one, but I try to be the best help-mate that I can be. I endeavor to grow my love. As such, he loves me back. Our love will endure and I, as he will never leave me nor forsake me, because I love him, I am here to stay!
That's the same as my marriage. I fail often, but work on it always. I love more now than I did when I merely burned and longed for companionship. My love will endure because I take it seriously! It's a picture of my relationship with Christ and to fail in my marriage would be a reflection on my devotion to Christ. Marriage is being born again and is meant to be forever! As with twins in this new birth; it's a special relationship and as it grows, two shall think as one.
Apostasy in salvation and marriage is filing for spiritual bankruptcy. God is the one who bails me out!
No comments:
Post a Comment