Jesus' Proposal

Photo curtesy of Caleb and Jenna Stanton

I've been thinking about engagement lately. Maybe it's because it seems like ALL my couple friends are getting engaged/married. Maybe it's because everybody and their kid brother is asking me when I'm getting engaged/married.  Maybe it's just because, I'm a girl. Nonetheless, putting a ring on it has been on my radar.

A thought occurred to me the other day. (Sometimes that's a dangerous thing). I was imagining what it looks like when a man and a woman get engaged. Mind you, I have pretty high expectations for engagement. A bar most likely set by my male friends who care deeply about their now fiancé or wife. In my experience (or vicarious experience via my friends) this is how proposals work: the man asks the woman's father for permission (which can be difficult especially when you have 2 fathers like me, one of which owns several guns and has hands the size of your face), works to save up money to buy a diamond ring, specifically selects said ring, plans out a special date on which he will ask his lady the question, he thinks about a romantic speech he will give telling her all about why he wants to marry her, then he executes all this and invites her to be in a life-long relationship with him. The girl, looks pretty and says yes.

Does that seem a little one-sided to you? It did to me. I am dating a man and normally I think in terms of what I can do for him. When I feel like I want something from him, for him to listen, ask me good questions, give me presents, I shift my thoughts to what ways I can give these things to him. Granted, loving a man looks different from loving a woman. I'm learning that men need respect more than they need love. And while everyone needs both, the way I can care about my man looks different than the way he best cares for me. At any rate, thinking about engagements, I don't need to be scheming up anything for a proposal that could potentially happen in the distant future. I just have to say yes. This baffled me for awhile. Why would a man go through all that trouble? What does he get in return? The answer is: me. The man goes through all this preparation and work and sacrifice and he gets the woman in return. I am brought to tears thinking about this. That someone would plan and work so hard just to have me. And to that man, it will be worth it; I will be worth it.

I realized that the same is true about Christ. He crafted and set into motion His redemptive plan. He humbled himself and traded his thrown in flawless heaven for dusty, gross Earth. He worked His whole life loving and training people to teach about Him. He set in motion a plan that would one day, generations later would lead to people loving me and telling me the life-changing truth of His grace. He lived the perfect life, then died in a horrible, painful way. He took His father's rejection for sins that I committed. He became, responsible for my failures. He wrote a love letter, known as the bible inviting me to be in eternal relationship with Him. All I had to do was say yes. And all He got in return, was me. And, to Him, it was worth it;  I was worth it.

Too oogle and oggle at more engaged/married couples check out: http://www.facebook.com/memorymp