Twenty years ago, Rick Warren’s best selling now classic book, The Purpose Driven Life, opened with the line...
“It’s not about you.”
This is true. He proposed that life was about God and His purposes. Yet if this life is about God and His purposes, it is also about His bride - the church. It’s about us – Jesus and His Bride.
If you are part of the church of God, you are in union with God through His son, Jesus Christ. Ephesians 5, Revelation 21, and several more Bible verses detail the mystery of the church through the image of marital union. Although there is so much depth and richness to this mystery, it is clear that you, me, and other believers, are the bride of Christ and the wedding day is coming soon.
We are the Bride. Jesus is the Bridegroom. This is Us.
This is an identity statement.
Have you ever witnessed a married couple that really loved one another?
This past week, I had the privilege to observe up close a husband love his wife of over fifty years as she passed on to eternity. Theirs was not a perfect marriage, yet in their faith, their love was made perfect in sacrificial care. This is only a reflection of the love of Jesus for His Bride – the Church.
As we, the church, identify as the bride of Christ, we are called to love others well. This identity is not only important as singles, but also as parents. We are to pass on the message that life is about loving God and caring for one another. Life is about us is a love statement of identity. “We” is a bigger picture.
What does that look like?
We are to get ready. Revelation 19:7 says,
“Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready.”
We are to make ourselves ready by loving one another and by being faithful. Here's how!
Loving one another
“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” John 13:34 (NIV) As Jesus loves us - while we were unlovable – we are to love one another.
We, the church – the Bride, are to care for one another so that, “by this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” John 13:35 NIV
Although there’s a need for self-care, it only comes in respect to being able to care for the whole body (1 Corinthians 12). It is a mindset of “us,” not me.
We are to be faithful
We are to be faithful to our betrothed. We, believers in Christ, have said “yes” to Jesus. When we think like that, it changes our perspective of how we live our lives.
- We get rid of idols or false lovers (1 Thessalonians 1:9).
- We speak highly of our beloved (Jude 1:16).
- We spend time with our beloved (John 15:1-8).
- We take care of His family (John 13:35).
- We stay pure (Matthew 5:8).
- We act in a way that is becoming (2 Corinthians 2:14).
With this identity in mind, we date differently, we parent differently, we friend differently, and we church differently.
It’s not about you.
It’s about Us.
Meet the Author
Stacey Jeannett is the founder and director of Single Parent Focus, dedicated to walking and encouraging single parents to “seek God first” in all areas of their lives. Stacey holds a Master’s in Counseling and is a Life Coach through her ministry, Single Parent Focus.
A single parent for most of her daughter’s life and making plenty of mistakes, Stacey cried out to God and He pulled her from the pit of self-sufficiency. Remarried, she now has a blended family of four, along with two son-in-laws, and three adorable grandchildren that call her GG.
The Life of a Single Mom is a national, faith-based, nonprofit that exists to see that no single mom walks alone. To date, the organization has worked with hundreds of churches to start a single mom’s support group in cities throughout the U.S. and beyond, as well as having served hundreds of thousands of single mothers with a variety of programs. Offering a large array of books, curriculum, training materials, online instructional videos, podcasts, newsletters, life skills education, and more, TLSM is one of the largest single mom organizations in the U.S. The robust selection of single mom programs focus on empowering single moms to grow spiritually, emotionally, financially, and parentally through Single Mom University, Single Moms Across America, the National TLSM Single Moms Conference, boot camps, and a variety of other programs. For more information, visit thelifeofasinglemom.com.
