Daily Devotions
The Bride of Christ
Title: The Bride of Christ
Reading for December 30: Revelation 18-19
"Let us rejoice and exult
and give him the glory,
for the marriage of the Lamb has come,
and his Bride has made herself ready;
it was granted her to clothe herself
with fine linen, bright and pure"--
for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.
Revelation 19:7-8
What motivates you to live a righteous life?
It may be you fear punishment. That is a very biblical motivation (Mt 7:21-23; 25:41-46; 2 Cor 5:10; Rev 21:8), but it is not the only one.
The Bible pictures us as the bride of Christ. We have been made beautiful by the blood of Christ (Eph 5:25-27), and we, as a betrothed bride, await the day when our husband comes to receive us. It is our duty to be ready for his coming (Mt 25:1-13).
And just as a bride goes to great effort and expense to make herself as beautiful as she can be for her wedding day, so we as the bride of Christ want to be beautiful for our husband when He comes for us. Paul wrote, "I betrothed you to one husband, to present you a pure virgin to Christ." (2 Cor 11:2; also Phil 1:11; 1 Thess 3:13)
So here's a motivation to live right today. Your Husband is coming for you. And he might be coming for you today!
Father, may we be filled with the knowledge of Christ that we might be pure and blameless at his coming!
