A Wedding Homily Part 4: The Good News of Demonstrating, Not Generating

[This is the fourth part (hence the title) of a series of posts from a wedding homily I did this past weekend. If you missed the first three, you might just need to catch up a bit before diving in here.]

And the good news is that this isn’t up to you to do: Jesus Christ in you and he has already done it.

When we were God’s enemies, when we had turned away from him and as we continually turn away from him, again and again and again, God who is rich in mercy, graciously and compassionately and continuously turns towards us, runs toward us

He does not turn away from us in anger or harden his heart toward us. He turned and still turns towards us, he offers us not just a chance to make it up to him but he gives himself up for us. He dies! Even though WE are the ones in the wrong!

Here’s what God does: he turns towards us perfectly in Jesus Christ. And then he invites us to abide in him and to allow him to abide in us. And then he says let me lead you into a life of turning towards the needs and people around you—including your spouse!—because that is what I have already done.

So when you are in the midst of conflicts, hardships, difficulties—when one of you hurts the other, when you sin against one another

Remember that Jesus Christ has already absorbed that sin. He has already forgiven it—yours and theirs. He has already taken on all of the ways that you’re both going to sin against one another—it is already covered and paid for and done in Christ.

Here’s the good news, Eric and Cristina: I’m calling you to turn toward each other and not away from one another, but the bottom line is that Jesus has already done this AND he has taken up residence inside of you

And so your job is not to GENERATE this turning toward but simply to DEMONSTRATE this turning toward

You don’t have to drum up turning towards one another, but you do have to abide in Christ, look to him, allow HIS story and his energy, his Spirit to shape and re-shape how you’re thinking about your story

And allow the fact that he is already turned toward both of you to drive and allow you to turn towards the other.

You don’t have to generate turning toward the other, you simply have to demonstrate—because Christ in you has already done it. It is already reality, the most real thing imaginable.