Have you ever noticed the attention to detail that a bride gives to her wedding? From the hair, to the dress, to the nails, to the shoes, to the very aisle she walks down, nothing escapes the eye of the bride as she sets everything in motion. She wants it to be just right for the moment that she is joined with her groom. Have you ever considered that this preparation and attention to detail is Biblical?
Revelation 19 records these words for us:
Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out,
“Hallelujah!
For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns.
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.”
“The Bride has made herself ready.” The Bride, Christ’s church, has been preparing for this moment. She has clothed herself and has lived a life filled with the good works for which God has created her. There isn’t a single part of her preparation that has gone unnoticed. No detail is too small to be left unprepared.
An earthly bride does the same. She even gives attention to the parts that are less noticeable. She paints her toenails only to cover them in shoes. She makes her hair perfect only to cover it with a veil. But are we, as the Body of Christ, that attentive to the details of His Bride?
What I mean by this is, do you show honor and love for the Children’s Ministry even if you don’t have children in that ministry? Do you help the Youth Ministry even if teenagers aren’t your cup of tea? Do you seek to help the Feed Ministry even if it is a ministry that does not personally benefit you? Do you pray for Hope Counseling even if you aren’t really sure who all is in that ministry? The question I pose is this: how do we as a church body actively show attention to all parts of the Bride, in this case, our small local community of North Wake?
To begin to answer this question let us ponder Paul’s words to the Romans:
Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality. Romans 12:9-13
“Let love be genuine.” A bride that is truly in love and eager to begin her life with her groom doesn’t need to be told to let her love be genuine. But we do! We are wayward and selfish. We want to be the center of our own universe, and we don’t want to be hindered in our own ambitions. However, we cannot live like that and have genuine love for the body of Christ. Jesus told His disciples that the world would know we are His by how we love one another. So how are we loving the Bride?
To love like Christ, we must hate what is evil and hold fast to what is good. We hurt when we see those within the body suffering. We desire to help them be free of the grasp that sin has over them. We help them hold tight to the truth of Christ and the promises of His love and salvation. So how are you helping the Bride hold tight to truth?
Pauls says, “Do not be slothful… be fervent.” We are to be active, purposeful, and attentive to what is happening around us. We must pay attention to the details! Even if those details are never seen by others or esteemed outside of the church, we will set our minds, hearts, and feet to do the good work. We will rejoice with one another. We will be patient when the hard times come. We will pray for each other constantly. Instead of being slothful, we will look around to see how we can engage in loving one another with brotherly love. So do you see the needs of the Bride and act accordingly?
