An Afternoon Wedding

I sat all alone on a step in the choir loft of a grand Baptist church this afternoon witnessing “the joining of this man and this woman”. It was from an interesting vantage point that I participated in this wedding. I had been asked to read a portion of Scripture from Colossians 1:15-18 and the microphone I was to use was all alone in the choir loft. I quietly made my way there and sat on a step out of the purview of the rest of those who had come to witness the covenant of marriage. It was from this vantage point that I could see what others could not, the joy of two young people standing before their pastor as he was used of God to finalize what he had long ago ordained for his glory and their joy.

The pastor (Calvin Fowler of Bull Street Baptist Church, Savannah Georgia) exhorted this couple to view their marriage and one another through three lenses that I thought a good reminder for all who have previously taken these vows in covenant love. First, he exhorted them to view their marriage through the lens of God’s sovereignty. He reminded them it is God who has brought them together by his sovereign designs and that he is doing good to them. Therefore they could be confident that their marriage was not their own doing but his and they could trust him as the doer of it in all times of their marriage. Second, he exhorted them to view one another in the marriage through the lens of God’s grace. He reminded them that it is God’s grace in Christ Jesus that has given them the forgiveness of sins and life with him forevermore. Therefore they could through this lens of grace view each other as sinners who have been forgiven, accepted and loved by God. And now they can forgive, accept and love one another in this same grace. Third, he exhorted them to view their marriage through the lens of the power of the Holy Spirit. He reminded them that in the salvation of God they were called to live toward him and one another in the power of the Holy Spirit. In this way the glory of God would be reflected to the world in their marriage.

As I sat and listened and prayed I renewed my own commitment to the Lord and my wife in marriage to view our marriage through these three lenses. I thanked the Lord for faithful ministers of his Word who exhort us and remind us of the way of his glory and our good in the marriages he has ordained. And I thanked him for the small low step and the choir loft in the midst of a grand building where I could escape for a few minutes into his presence and pleasure to see and be reminded of his good and glorious work of marriage.