My Valentine

Yesterday was a day when I spent some extra time thinking about my wife and marriage that and the gift that Lord has bestowed upon me with each. It may be the most obvious physical evidence of the grace of God in my life.

I know my sin, I know my heart, I know that at my best, my thoughts and deeds clothe me in filthy rags or leave me walking about with "my old self" strapped to my back as a rotting corpse, contaminating all that am and all that I do. In God's sight, there is no hiding my inadequacy or any of my faults and failings.

Yet He, in His mercy and grace, has given to me a wife who has taken my breath away with her beauty since the first time I saw her, who serves me with her whole life, who loves me unconditionally, who strives for a deeper relationship with the Lord so she can become a better wife and mother, and who has given up many of the activities that yield the praise of man in order to serve in the way she feels the Lord has called and her husband has requested she serve.

A very good friend of mine, who knows me well, says to me often, “you married UP my friend”. I’m not sure if there is a better way to describe the way the Lord has given me so much more than I deserve. My friend, by the way, freely admits to having “married UP” as well.

The incredible thing about His gift is that, in an eternal sense, it is unnecessary. His call on my life would be the same if He gave me the wife I deserve rather than the gift He chose to give me. What it does for me though is give me a physical reminder of His grace and mercy that, in the spiritual realm, has given me forgiveness and salvation and an eternal home with Him.
Today, as I prepare to learn and worship with my church family at South Side Baptist church, I know I will be thinking about how thankful I am that my God gives me more than I deserve, and because of the perfect gift of His son Jesus Christ, I am clothed in His righteousness rather than in the rotting corpse that I seem to want to clothe myself with so often. Praise be to God!