A young couple got married, had a wonderful honeymoon, then came back to their new home and settled in to their new life together. On Monday morning the husband left for work, kissing his new wife goodbye. Throughout the day he sent her loving messages about how happy he was, how much he missed her, and how much he couldn’t wait to be home with her.
At 5pm, when work was over, he went out with his buddies to a sports bar for a few drinks. Then they all hung out at one of the guys’ houses to watch a football game. Around midnight the newly wed husband arrived back home to find an extremely worried wife. “Where have you been?!” she exclaimed. “Just hanging out with the guys. No big deal” he replied. Her worry turned to anger. “No big deal? What about me? Did you think about how this would affect me; what this would do to our marriage?”
“Look, I know that we’re married,” he said. “But not on Mondays from 5 to midnight.”
Would a marriage like that flourish? Would it even stay a relationship for very long?
I will betroth you to me forever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in love and compassion. I will betroth you in faithfulness, and you will acknowledge the Lord. (Hosea 2:19-20)
We are the bride of Christ. And just like our marriages here on Earth, that is a full-time commitment. We don’t get to move in and out of relationship with Him. May you be faithful to the Lord, because He is faithful to you.