Grace For The Journey

  We’ve all heard the sardonic expression, “THE HONEYMOON IS OVER!” Although it is used in a variety of contexts, from business to sports to politics, the phrase refers to the disappointing truth that the wonderful, even fantasy-like beginning of a marriage, marked by happiness and unimaginable optimism, has now settled into the relentless burden of “doing life” together. In my pre-marriage coaching sessions, I always emphasize that couples not to do what most people do, which is spending far more time planning the wedding than they do the marriage. This will help keep the “honey” in the marriage.

But there is one honeymoon that will never come to an end! As the prophet Isaiah wrote in Isaiah 62:5 . . . “As the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.”

Notice that Isaiah did not say that the bridegroom rejoices over His bride only during the initial honeymoon phase. Rather, it is a mark of the Master’s unchanging nature (which He reveals in Numbers 23:19 and elsewhere) that He always rejoices over His beloved bride. It’s a HOLY HONEYMOON from the moment we are raised from death to life in Christ; it continues throughout our lives; and it will go on for all eternity! Because God is infinite and unchanging and we are His bride, the honeymoon is never over.

I remember the incredible joy Kay and I experienced on our honeymoon back in August of 1973. We didn’t have much, but we had each other and it was a wonderful period of uninterrupted time spent together. However, whatever joy . . . whatever pleasure . . . whatever excitement . . . whatever “magic” Kay and I experienced together on our honeymoon it is only a shadow of the experience that will come when we are received into glory by our Bridegroom!

For those of you who are married, think back to how you felt on your honeymoon. To think that God rejoices over us as a Bridegroom rejoices over His bride is almost unimaginable. For the Bridegroom and His bride the honeymoon never ends. In fact, the joy and pleasure simply continues intensifying.

We must remember that our marriages are tainted by sin, so the euphoria we experienced on our honeymoon will not be our experience on a moment-by-moment basis. But this is not the case with our eternal Bridegroom. God’s love for us is perfect and infinite and it never changes. Even when we are unlovely and unlovable, our Bridegroom loves us with an everlasting love. We cannot make God love us more and we cannot cause Him to love us less. God’s love is as unchanging as our holy honeymoon is unending.

So . . . how should this Gospel truth impact our lives? It should cause us to rest in our redemption, knowing that our God is rejoicing over us! It should lift us when we are low, strengthen us when we are weak, comfort us when we are anxious, and give us unwavering hope when we are hurting.

Oh, what a Bridegroom we have in Jesus!

This is God’s Word For Today … This Is Grace For The Journey

Rest and Rejoice in this eternal truth!

Pastor Terry

Ephesians 4:7 – “But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.”

Hebrews 4:16 – “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”