![\"Wedding](\"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Wedding-Bouquet.jpg\" "\\"Photo")
<\/a><\/p>\nI do love weddings. They are fun. They are festive. They are hopeful of a bright future. Call me sentimental, but weddings make my heart smile. I know a lot of people getting married in the next year. Nieces, cousins, friends. It\u2019s going to be a busy wedding season.<\/p>\n
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While I love weddings, I really love learning and thinking about the Church being the Bride of Christ. That whole idea and concept is heart-melting. Think about some of the biblical references to this beautiful picture with me.<\/p>\n
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We see a tiny glimpse of this idea in the Old Testament. Isaiah 54:5 (NIV) says, \u201cFor your Maker is your husband\u2014the Lord Almighty is his name\u2014the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; he is called the God of all the earth.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n In the parable of the ten virgins, we are reminded to be prepared when the Bridegroom returns (Matthew 25:1-13).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Paul makes mention that the Corinthian believers were promised to one husband, to Christ (2 Corinthians 11:2).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n One of my favorite passages is in Ephesians 5:25-27 (NIV) \u201cHusbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n In the Book of Revelation, we see that that we are to rejoice and be glad for the wedding of the Lamb has come! (Revelation 19:6-8).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n There is one biblical reference that I\u2019ve never equated to the Bride\/Bridegroom analogy. In the past, I\u2019ve thought of it as being unable to understand or see biblical truth. But in light of a wedding, this veil takes on a new meaning. Take a look at 2 Corinthians 3:16-18 (NIV).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cBut whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord\u2019s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n When the veil is lifted at a wedding ceremony, the groom sees his bride in all her beauty without hindrance. But the bride also sees clearly at that moment as well.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n When our spiritual veil is lifted, Jesus doesn\u2019t see our past, our inadequacies, our failures. Jesus sees us without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. Me? Jesus sees me like that? Yes He does. And Jesus sees you that way as well.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n But here\u2019s the coolest part. When that spiritual veil is lifted, we begin to understand God\u2019s truth. And what happens in that moment? We are free. We are able to view ourselves as Jesus views us. We are able to use God\u2019s Spirit to teach us and enlighten us. We have the ability to reflect God\u2019s glory. We are open to transformation. We are radiant!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Wow. That\u2019s all. Wow.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Are you ready for a June wedding? If you haven\u2019t made the commitment to being Christ\u2019s Bride, I would encourage you to consider meeting Him at the altar today. You are precious to Him. He is patiently waiting. All you need to do is say \u201cyes.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Maybe you\u2019ve already made this commitment but are in a place where you need to renew your vows. If that\u2019s the case, today\u2019s a good day for that as well.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n And if you are a faithful Bride of Christ, let\u2019s rejoice today. The wedding celebration hasn\u2019t ended. In Christ, there\u2019s always something to delight in. Let\u2019s live like it!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n There really is something about a June wedding.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Grace and peace be yours in abundance,<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Donna<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It\u2019s June. Used to be \u201cthe\u201d wedding month. While I still hear of weddings in June, it seems that more and more couples have moved away from that tradition and are now finding wedded bliss in other months of the year. I do love weddings. They are fun. They are festive. They are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_s2mail":"yes","_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3762,3386,296,3438,14],"tags":[4412,4409,4410,4414,3318,116,4408,2004,385,4415,4411,4413,4407],"class_list":["post-4624","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-abide","category-enjoy-god","category-experiencing-god","category-reflect-god","category-seeking-god","tag-2-corinthians-316-18","tag-bridegroom","tag-ephesians-525-27","tag-freedigitalphotos-net","tag-isaiah","tag-jesus","tag-june-weddings","tag-lifebridge-christian-church","tag-matthew-251-13","tag-photo-by-artur84-published-on-06-april-2013","tag-revelation-196-8","tag-the-veil","tag-wedding-time"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4624","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4624"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4624\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4628,"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4624\/revisions\/4628"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4624"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4624"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4624"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}