There is a wedding being prepared — one greater than any we have seen on earth.

It is the story God has been telling from the very beginning: the love story between Christ and His Bride, the Church.

In the ancient Jewish tradition, marriages began not with a proposal, but with an invitation from the father. It was the father who chose the bride for his son, who made the arrangements, who initiated the covenant.

And so it is with us.

We have been invited — chosen not because we earned it, but because of the Father’s great love.

“The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice.”

— John 3:29 (NIV)

The Father’s Invitation

Before we ever sought God, He sought us.

Long before we knew His name, He knew ours.

Just as the Jewish father would seek out a bride for his son and make the arrangements for her redemption and future, God the Father sent His Son, Jesus, to seek, redeem, and prepare us.

We are not afterthoughts.

We are not accidents.

We are the beloved Bride, invited into a covenant of love.

The Weight of the Invitation

In the ancient world, receiving an invitation to a wedding was not casual. It was an honor — a call to prepare, to be ready, to celebrate the joy to come.

When the Father invites us to Christ, it is no light thing. It is a call to transformation, to readiness, to relationship.

It’s not about earning His love.

It’s about accepting His invitation — the one written not with ink, but with the blood of His Son.

Reflect and Respond

🌸 Have I received the invitation of the Father — not just to salvation, but to deep, covenant relationship with Christ?

🌸 Am I living today like someone who has been chosen and loved?

🌸 How does knowing I am invited — not tolerated, not barely accepted, but wanted — change the way I walk with God?

A Prayer for Today

Father, thank You for loving me first.

Thank You for sending Your Son to invite me into a relationship beyond anything I could deserve or imagine.

Help me to live today as Your beloved — not striving, but simply responding to the love You have already given.

Prepare my heart as a Bride ready for her Bridegroom.

Amen. ♥️