A Young businesswoman was approached by a real estate agent who wanted to sell her a home. “A Home?” she said. “Why do I need a Home?” I was born in a hospital, educated in a boarding school, courted in an automobile, and married in a church. My Husband and I work in office buildings. On weekends we spend our mornings playing golf and our afternoons playing bridge at the club. Evenings we go to the movies. And when I die I’m going to be buried from a funeral parlor. I don’t need a home, all I need is a garage.
You can buy a garage. You can buy a house. You can even buy a house and a garage. But you cannott buy a “Home” A home is something that exists quite apart from whether you have a house or a garage. A home is not only where you live, but how you live. A home is how you abide. Another word for home is abode. Which comes from the word abide. The man and woman in the Garden of Eden did not have a house or a garage, but they had a home in the sense that they had a relationship based on the providence and Grace of God. They were created by God to be flesh and bone of one another . It was only after they had sinned ad were driven from the Garden that they actually had a house. But then they faced the challange of making that house into a home that could survive in spite of their sin.
A Home is not so much a place as it is a state of being. A husband and wife cannott create this state of being on their own, try as they might. A Home where love abides in the family and the family abides in love is a sheer gift from God. A home where a family shares what this love produces-compassion, kindness, humillity, patience, and forgiveness-such is home is based on nothing less than the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Jesus Tells us to Keep His commandment of Love . This word keep does not mean obey it means to hold in high esteem, to trust ultimately,to value above all else. If Jesus were calling for perfect obediance , we would all be instant failures. What He is calling for rather, is that we Trust His un failling love for us even when we don’t see it or at times feel it -that a husband and wife will Cleave to (hold on to) His love even more than they cleave to each other. What He is calling for is not perfection but faith that His love for us is certain and secure. Faith like that is a window through which His love can enter our lives and infuse them with compassion, Kindness, Humillity ,patience and Foriveness. Ron and Sharon,the love of God which called you into being through human birth has abided with you in every way thus far un your journey through life. It has nurtured you through parents, family, church family, friends. That love caused you to find each-other, and now it has brought you to this Your wedding day. No matter where you went, or what you did, that love abided with you, and it will continue to abide with you throughout the years to come.
Ron and Sharon, Both of You have Accepted Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior, And you Both heard about His abiding love, but you have now experianced it in a profound personal way.
As Husband and Wife you can buy a house. You can even buy a house with a garage. But HOME for you will always be a gift not a posession. Home for you will always be the Love of Jesus Christ. Which abides with you no matter where you are. Wether it be in Prescott, Morissburg or BC The Love of God will be with you.
God Bless you as you together love and serve the Lord in your marriage.
