“Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great,
and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out
his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he
bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.”-Isaiah
53:12
In
the book of first Peter, Peter writes that Christ left us the example and we
should follow his steps. The one who “did no sin, neither was guile found in his
mouth.” Christ was the example; he
willing gave up his own life and suffered for us. He submitted to the will of God and not his
own will. He poured out his soul unto death. The
essences of who He was, completely exhausted and emptied; wholly committed to
the will of the Father so that we might enjoy the same fellowship. So that we might experience the same
relationship.
Anyone
living in holy matrimony will tell you that there was the person they were
before they were married, and the person they are now. Bachelor life is nothing like married
life. In the bachelor life, for the most
part, your time and money is spent on you.
Where you go, what you do, whom you are with….those decisions are
centered around you. In marriage, it is
not about “you” anymore but “us.” If you
love the “us” more than you love the “you” then the marriage is beautiful. If not, then it is a constant struggle. If the marriage is going to grow it takes
love, sacrifice, commitment, and dedication to the “us.” Furthermore, it requires a death to the idea
of “you.” In this, we find the spiritual
foundation that keeps the holy in holy matrimony. In this we find the will of God for every one
of His children. This is the will of God even your sanctification. Sanctification is the perfect union between
God and man. It is not a blanket union
for everyone that permeates the line of time through the power of Jesus’s
blood, but rather an individual union that brings salvation through the power
of Jesus’s blood. It is your commitment
to Christ and His commitment to you.
Which means, if you have not said your vows and received the witness of
the Spirit then you are not wed to Him.
Moreover, if you are not wed to Christ then you are not sanctified and
if you are not sanctified then you are lost.
Regardless of your current relationship status, Jesus Christ wants to be
married to you. He wants you to die out
to the bachelor life and embrace the beauty of marriage. We as people are born into this world
harboring this awful darkness within that Bible labels as sin. It is a two-part problem; one part is carnal
sin, which is an inherited, uncontrollable desire to disobey God. The other part is committed sin, which is the
conscious decision to disobey God. The
committed is driven by the carnal, and the whole of sin is rooted and grounded
in self. Selfish desires, selfish
wishes, wants, ways, etc. The bachelor life
is a selfish life, a sinful life, and a sinful life is a hard life. A hard life that brings no glory to God, and
no reward in the end. This is why there
must, must, must be a death to “you”; if there is ever going to be “us.” In prayer, you must pour out your soul unto death.
Giving it all over to Jesus Christ, committing yourself to his
direction. The same way a bride commits
to her husband in holy matrimony. This
happens at the altar, and it happens every day in the marriage. To keep the “us” you have to keep “you” in
the grave.
Christ
is the groom and he wants there to be an “us.”
He wants this for every single person on Earth. However, for there to be an “us” you must
first die out to the idea of “you.” The
same as Jesus did. The cross is His
example, the cross is His courtship, and the cross is His proposal.
