We
are all sons of the living God, no matter male or female, its not
gender specific. It’s a title given to the children of God to define
our positional authority in the kingdom of God. So that male and female
alike, we’re all sons of God because we’re co-heirs with Christ.
We’re
seated at the right hand of God with Christ. This reality is a
positional authority given by our Heavenly Father and thus explains
what kind of relationship Jesus was desiring.
But, the language
of companionship or the title the Bride of Christ is mainly defining
our relational quality. We’re not just sons taking orders or exercising
authority. Our relationship with God is defined through longing, love
and companionship. I love my sons but I’m joined to my wife; the
quality of relationship is different. The bridal paradigm, or the bride
of Christ title is not gender specific either. You women, you get to be
the sons of God and us men, we get to be the Bride of Christ. They are
defining different nuances in our relationship with the Lord. I say
this, because many men struggle with the language of the "Bride of
Christ". Many men may have a problem envisioning themselves wearing a
wedding dress, and that's a good thing... they shouldn't be wearing
one.
When
I meet Jesus face to face we will embrace eachother, not slow dance.
It’s not about a certain expression of romance, it’s about the quality
of love. It’s the quality of our companionship. Yes, he’s my brother
and my king but he is also my companion at a heart level that is
deep. Begin to walk in love the way Jesus did, "...as the Father loved me, I have also loved you."
Can
you imagine how much the Father loves Jesus? In fact, John 5 says the
Father loves Jesus and shows him all things. Can you imagine, it says
that Jesus loves us with the same intensity that his Father loves
him. This is a great mystery.
The majority of the time we struggle with loving ourselves. Does Jesus then struggle in loving us? But, "...as the Father loved me, I have also loved you."
God's love is perfect. He doesn't struggle to love Jesus, does he? No.
There is no great effort for God to love his beloved son Jesus, and the
same way Jesus loves us. Why then do we face the great battle of
questioning the perfect love of God? It is perfect.
John 17:23 states that “I
in them and you in me,” speaking of the Father and the Son, “that they
may be perfect in one, that the world may know that you have sent me.
That the Father has loved them just as the Father loves Jesus.”
It is Jesus' desire that we might understand this kind of love that the
Father offers freely, that we may walk in the freedom of perfect love.
Now
that is easily said, it’s another thing to believe it. Mediate on these
realities. This revelation transforms our minds, our wills get
empowered to live for righteousness and our emotional chemistry is
changed. Suddenly, our minds are crisp, our wills are strengthened, and
our hearts overflow in love, for him and one another. If we don’t
understand the quality of our relationship with God we will be stunted
in our growth as disciples of Christ. Our thinking will be twisted, our
wills will be weak, and our emotions, our hearts will be locked up. We
have to give ourselves to knowing this truth. Our identity is written
on the pages of your Bible, that love letter from God to you.
Even
now Jesus, show us by the Holy Spirit, that You love us just like the
Father loves you. Show us, reveal it to our hearts. Father, show us by
the Holy Spirit that you love us just like you love Jesus. Keep us from
condemnation and fear and let us hear your voice telling us how wide,
and long, and deep, and high is the love of God, for us. Amen
In
other words, just as Jesus is one with the Father and fully manifests
the Father’s presence, his nature, and his ways, the church is to have
union with the Father and the Son in the same way that manifests the
fullness of God’s name and his ways on the earth. Bringing the Church
into maturity.
