I’m officially past the one week mark of being a newly wed. My wife is studying for an exam tomorrow and I’m up reflecting on something I wrote on Wednesday: Your bride is your mission and your ministry. Scripture records Israel, the church, and the New Jerusalem as being the Bride of Christ. It’s only in the book of Revelation that Jesus Christ is united with his bride in marriage, but before this, scripture paints an image of the love of Jesus for his bride the Church.

My understanding of the Church has changed on this side of marriage. I have a deeper understanding of why Christ died for the world, because out of the this world his bride exists. If my bride were in danger, I would die for her no questions asked if I thought it would save her life. It’s a kind of love that I can’t even explain. I do think this kind of love is recorded in the Bible.

I have a new understanding of Ephesians 3:19 - and to know this love that passes all understanding. I really cannot explain how deep my love for my wife is. We really cannot explain how deep Christ’s love for his bride the Church is. What we can agree on is that it’s there, that it’s big and that God is in it. The pure love between a husband and his wife is a reflection of the love between God and his people.

For me, to know a love that passes all understanding is to have stepped into a different chapter in life. My bride is my mission and my ministry like the Church is Christ’s mission and his ministry. I am a part of His church and therefore, I am a part of the bride of Christ. The first time I saw my bride fully adorned in her wedding dress, it was breath taking.

She no doubt, put incredible time and effort into being the perfect bride for me. Knowing and seeing her incredible commitment to being a bride has inspired me to live my life in such a way that my commitment as a part of the bride of Christ is like my bride’s commitment to me. The only thing that counts is faith expressed in love.