"You Look Wonderful ... But Where Is The Groom?"

A glowing bride greeted her guest with brilliant smile as she entered the reception hall after the wedding ceremony. She gracefully moved about the room,her white gown flowing along the floor behind her.She conversed with each guest one by one, mingling and getting all the compliments:

"You look so lovely." "Your dress is divine u look gorgeous." The lavish praises rang on and on. But where was the groom? All the attention was on the bride and never once did she call anyone's attention to her husband. In fact, she didn't notice his absence at her side. Scanning the room, I searched wondering Where could he be?

I finally found him but not where I expected him to be. He stood alone in the corner of the reception hall with his head down. As he looked at his ring, twisting the gold ring that his bride has just placed on his finger, tears trickled down his cheeks. Suddenly, I noticed the nail scars- the groom was Jesus Christ.

"You Look Wonderful ... But Where Is The Groom?"

He waited but the bride never once turned her face toward her groom. She never held His hand. She never introduced the guests to Him.She operated independently of Him.

I woke up realising I had been dreaming! "Lord is this how I've made you feel when I was looking for love in all the wrong places?" I wept at the thought of hurting Him so deeply.

Unfortunately, this dream illustrates exactly what is happening between God and millions of His people. He betroths Himself to us, we take His name and then go about our lives looking for love, attention and affection from every source under the sun except the groom Jesus Christ, the Lover of our souls.

Oh how Jesus longs us to acknowledge Him, to introduce Him to our friends, to withdraw to be alone with Him, to look longingly into His beautiful eyes,to cling to Him for our identity, to love Him with our heart and soul.

What about you? Do you have this kind of love relationship with Christ? Did you _found love on a hopeless place elsewhere and ended up heartbroken?Why not receive Jesus Christ-the best groom ever- today and experience the incredible joy of intimacy with Him who loves you with a passion that is deeper, far greater than anything you could find on earth? I know you can!

Adopted from Every Young Woman's Battle by Shannon Ethridge and Stephen Arterburn