Bride of Christ
6 min read
10 Listen, daughter, and pay careful attention: Forget your people and your father’s house.
11 Let the king be enthralled by your beauty; honor him, for he is your lord.
…
16 Your sons will take the place of your fathers; you will make them princes throughout the land.
17 I will perpetuate your memory through all generations; therefore the nations will praise you for ever and ever.
— Psalm 45:10-11; 16-17
This psalm is a prophecy about Christ and His bride, the church. The “father’s house” that we are to forget is this world. And the King is Christ, our Lord.
One of the most important questions that every believer has to face has to do with the relationship between the believer and the world around us. Theologians have discussed this relationship using the expressions “of the world,” “separated from the world,” and “in the world.”
Being “of the world” means that a believer is pretty much just like any nonbeliever. The only difference is, the believer has faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ and is therefore saved. From an evangelical point of view, we call that “easy believism.” Being “of the world” basically describes what we might call Sunday-only Christians.
Being “separated from the world” means that a believer considers the world and everything in it to be evil and under the reign of the devil. Such believers will form exclusive communities of fellow believers such that they do not have to engage with the nonbelieving world at all. The Amish are one example.
Being “in the world” reflects the perspective of most evangelical believers. We believe that God had created the world “good,” even if that good world has been corrupted by the curse of sin. And we are free to enjoy the good blessings that God has provided in this world, as long as (1) we do not turn the good things of this world into idols (that is, the source of our hope and happiness), (2) we pursue the holiness God demands with the unlimited grace that He gives us, and (3) we follow Jesus as Lord of our lives in this world.
None of us are perfect, and we will fail on one or more of these points each and every day. But if this worldview is how we engage in the world, we will find ourselves seeking His kingdom and His righteousness. And without really thinking and agonizing over it, we will find ourselves filling the earth with the glory of God in Jesus’s name through God-fearing, God-honoring, God-worshiping, God-loving communities and families—the church.
And He will be enthralled by us, even as we freely enjoy all the good and perfect gifts that God has provided for us because we naturally and easily glorify Him as we do so.
Father, every good and perfect gift comes from You. You have withheld no blessing from us within the boundaries of Your kingdom. Within the boundaries of Your kingdom, there is no blessing we cannot enjoy. Forgive us, Lord, for imagining that You are withholding anything from us. Open our eyes and give us wisdom. Be enthralled by us because of Your Spirit. In Jesus’s name. Amen.