The Bride God Chooses

     He headed into the night, unaware of where he was going. He had to think. He wanted to hide; he felt ashamed for leaving her. But it was precisely what she wanted.

     Thomas rounded a boulder and headed along white sand, deeper into the canyon. In the morning I will take her back. His vision blurred with moisture. I have no choice. It's what she wants. If she can't recognize a gift when she sees one, she hardly deserves it, does she? She should be running to the red pools, but she's talking about going back.

     A tear leaked down his cheek.

     "Where are you going?"

      Thomas spun toward the voice on his left.

      Justin!

      Could it be? He stepped back, blinking.

      Yes, Justin. He wasn't smiling this time, and his jaw was firm.

      "Justin?"

      Justin glanced back toward the boulders that hid the camp. "You left her."

     "I..." Thomas didn't know that to say. Why had he seen Justin twice in one week? And why was Justin so interested in Chelise?

     Justin faced him, green eyes flashing with anger. "How dare you leave her alone! Do you have any idea who she is? I entrusted her to you."

     "She's Chelise, daughter of Qurong. I didn't know that you'd entrusted her to me."

     "She's the one my father prepared for me! You've left my bride to sob in the sand!" Justin took several paces toward the camp, then turned back, head now in his hands.

     Thomas wasn't sure what to make of this display.

     Justin lowered his hands. "I told you myself, I would show you my heart. I sent you Michael when you began to doubt, and you're already forgetting. Do I need to show myself to you every day?"

     Justin pointed toward the camp. "You should be kissing her feet, not running away."

     "I don't understand. She's only one woman-"

     "No! She's the one I've chosen to show the Circle my love for them. Through you."

     Thomas sank to his knees, horrified by what he was hearing. "I swear I didn't know. I swear I will love her. Forgive me. Please forgive me. I..."

     "Please, hurry," Justin said. The moonlight showed tears in his eyes. "Her heart is breaking. You have to help her understand. Don't think I am the only one who wants her. My enemy will not rest."     

-from the book White by Ted Dekker

She is disgusting. Her breath smells foul, her skin is diseased and flaking, and her heart is cold as stone. She refuses to receive life and healing when offered to her on a silver platter. Yet she is precisely the person whom Justin (a type of Jesus) wants to lavish his love on. Chelise is lost. Her soul hangs in the balance between an invisible war which wages for her heart. And the task to demonstrate that love is given to a man who knows the Truth.

The same task is given to those who bear the name of Christ Jesus. It seems that most of the time we in the Church are focused on ourselves. After all, we reason, we are His chosen, the elect, the saved, His bride. Those outside are immoral, disgusting, sinful, untouchable. Or if we do care, we have given up hope because of their unresponsiveness or the seemingly impossible task to make them understand or even want the Truth. If only we could see His eyes! We might see righteous anger toward us, and tears of love and sorrow for those we have rejected in our religiosity. We might see Him pacing the floor with hands wringing and deep sobs convulsing His body. We might see His heart, and that it has always been for the...lost.

Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things-and the things that are not-to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God-that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: "Let him who boasts boast in the Lord." (1 Corinthians 1:26-31)

While Jesus was having dinner at Levi's house, many tax collectors and "sinners" were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the "sinners" and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: "Why does he eat with tax collectors and 'sinners'?" On hearing this, Jesus said to them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners." (Mark 2:15-17)