"The Priority Of The Bride".

Revelation 19:7 NASB

"Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready.”

We must remember that the church as an institution or corporate entity if you will, is nothing more than the "dress" of the bride. That statement is not meant to disparage the church. For this dress should be made beautiful, unsullied from the filth of man's tradition and religious controls. Hence it behoves us believers to ensure the brides dress is everything it should be. That it's express purpose of accentuating the brides beauty is achieved.

Yet if anything should be perfected let it be the bride herself, let us expend every effort in the cultivation of her beauty and spirit; to prepare her for the life she is about to enter into.

For after all the pomp and circumstance of the wedding ceremony is over, the groom will escort her to the inner chamber (that has been made ready) where the dress; no matter how beautiful and intricate it's details, will be removed. And the union which was so anticipated will be consummated.

From that point on the "dress" will be an artifact of cherished memory relegated to eternal storage. The groom, spending his days gazing upon his bride as he pulls her into his bosom.

My point is thus: Let the "bride" be perfect, and let the earthly glory of the "church" fade. For soon the groom comes.

Luther.

“The Great Nothing”.

2 Thessalonians 1:11 NASB
“To this end also we pray for you always, that our God will count you worthy of your calling, and fulfill every desire for goodness and the work of faith with power”.

What prevents us from forward momentum? What thing lurks in the dark recesses, waiting to pounce? While we may not know its name, we can feel its presence the moment we become still. Breathing upon our neck, we smell it, hear it, and it remains unseen.

“The nothing” – that great wolf that devours our creative energies, our hopes and dreams. He that stands between us and desire. Yet I cannot stand still, I cannot give in, I must rage against the coming darkness. I will flee his claws of apathy that would enclose my heart in their cold grasp.

It is not within me to sit idle, to do nothing, to waste away with only the whispers of that beast to torment me, to be prey for the wolf. No, I know to whom I belong – and His call is one of movement, of action. I shall resist.

And so if I am to be true to my Lord, I must rise up and walk. It is not for me to know the way ahead; it is for me to merely follow. Forsaking my own vain interpretation of following for the true path of a disciple. Thus with all that is within, I will stand, I will follow, I will answer his call and be counted worthy.

Luther