Exodus 21:9 And if he have betrothed her unto his son, he shall deal with her after the manner of daughters.

There is much to be learned in studying the relationship of the son and his betrothed. I want to focus on only one thing at this time and that is the Father’s attitude towards His Sons betrothed. God the Father treats us as a daughter. This is the essence of adoption, we were chosen in Christ by the Father and as such are the children of adoption into the family of God.

“All rights reserved.”

All things under heaven and in earth have been given to Jesus Christ for the faithful work He performed to make all things possible. As daughters we have no rights or ownership in the Old Testament economy. We are now living in the New Testament economy. What changed?

John 13:3-5 Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he was come from God, and went to God; He riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a towel, and girded himself. After that he poureth water into a bason, and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded.

It is important here to understand how Jesus acted knowing that all things were His. His expression of love said, “There is nothing beneath me.” This washing of the feet was a hireling’s job or perhaps even that of a slave.

The reason I bring this up is to remind us that as His betrothed, we need to see, appreciate and cooperate in what our bridegroom does for those He loves.

John 13:14 If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another’s feet.

I will not go into the meaning behind the washing of feet here. What I want to focus on as His betrothed is this attitude of cooperation, to do what we are asked because we love Him.

John 21:15 So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs.

I did a bible search using the word motivation. Not surprisingly the results came up zero, in usage and in the topical index. I tried five of the more popular versions of the bible and found that each one posted John 21:15-17 as an example of motivation.

The essence of these passages is that if we love the Lord, we should love what He loves, in the same way He loves them. He also reiterated that sentiment for being disciples.

John 13:35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

To paraphrase another verse Jesus left us; if you love the Lord do what He tells you to do. I understand that the majority of teachings on that verse want to place the focus on the commandments which we have demonstrated time and time again as being impossible to keep.

If you place the focus on our love for Him, it overshadows performance in favor of relationship. The reason for that is evidence in His sacrifice. We couldn’t do it for ourselves, so He did it for us. Now having accepted Jesus Christ into our hearts by faith nothing has changed. We still cannot do it. He will do it for us.

Recently I tried to press the issue that we should consider ourselves betrothed to Christ. That is a more intimate relationship than student, disciple, servant or friend. In this intimate relationship we will discover that if we love Him that way the things He tells us will be more intimate.