Value, Trust and Faith (and how my thoughts meander)

Value, Trust and Faith (and how my thoughts meander ) Something I read today, that really stuck out.

“When my wife is willing to lay down her desire for control and give all of herself to me, she tells the story of the Church, the bride who sees love as more valuable than having it her way.”  Joshua Rogers - Marriage advice from a preacher, a singer, and a friend - JoshuaRogers.com

It stuck out to me in that the bride has found something more important than having her way, than knowing what’s going on, than understanding it all… She sees the Love and finally knows she can trust this more, she can give up the control and bask in the love of her bridegroom, knowing that He’ll protect her, fight for her and provide for her; she just has to trust Him and return His love. This also led to the thought of when I found that I trusted someone that I was kind of surprised that I already trusted. What I realize now, is that I had seen and experienced this person placing a high Godly value on me and on who we were. At the time I didn’t really know why I trusted them but I had no question and complete peace in that. Now I look at it and know that I can trust them because they value me and I know that what they value they will protect and care for/about.  In a marriage relationship, I would think that when the husband highly values his wife that he shows this by providing, protecting and caring for her. This is also him showing that he loves her. Now then when a wife highly values her husband, it would seem that some of the ways she shows him respect would be by standing alongside him, having his back, encouraging him, speaking respectfully to him and about him, caring for him. Of course, though this isn’t easy, all these things should be done whether the other gives you reason to do so or not. “Love your neighbor as yourself” and “Do onto others as you would have them do onto you”. Also God called you to your part, not only if the other holds up their end of the “deal”. Marriage isn’t what you can get out of it but what you can give into it. It is learning to sacrifice yourself for the other. It is also about what you can do together for The Lord, what He has called you to do together to make a difference, impact on the people around you and the up and coming generations. Marriage is not selfish, it is giving sacrificially, it is a picture of Christ and His bride. Christ puts such a High Value on us, that He came, lived a Sinless life (that we couldn’t), died in our place, rose again, and then takes His Righteousness and puts it over us when we ask and receive it by Faith. That way when God, The Father, looks at us, He sees not our sins but Christ’s Righteousness. This is Crazy, there should be something we can do but there isn’t, it’s a gift, free and clear, just because He Loves us that much that He wants us to be with Him for Eternity. Anything we do to try and earn this gift is WORTHLESS, it would be you trying to earn it with your righteousness and He calls our righteousness Filthy Rags. Nothing we can do can even Begin to touch what Christ has done for us. We usually, sometimes more often than not, sin within 5 minutes of being tempted. Christ lived 33 YEARS without Ever sinning once! And the Bible says that He was tempted in every way.   Maybe we should look to valuing Him higher and realize the price He paid! When we can do this, we will  be able to trust Him that much easier when He asks us to step out in faith or to believe for what looks humanly impossible. Faith never gets easier, each time it just makes you stronger for the next time but when you look back at where you came from you’ll be amazed and you’ll see the hand of God. Do I know if He Will do something, no, But I know that He Can do something, so I’ll continue to Believe and wait expectantly.