The Weight of the Past

My husband and I love to look through old magazines. We have a small, musty collection that contain recipes calling for lard, egg yolks, and white sugar, advertisements for cigarettes claiming to improve health and concentration, and happy couples standing in front of white, picket-fenced homes with two smiling children and a well-behaved dog.

The other day I was looking through an old magazine from the 60’s and saw a picture of a newly married couple leaving the church in a car that had tin cans tied behind it. Despite the fact that this was an advertisement for a particular make of car, I started thinking about what this scene represented.

This used to be a common scene - shouts of joy, the honking of horns, and the noise of the cans rattling behind. As I looked closer at the picture, I noticed the contrast between the pure radiance of the bride’s expression and pure white dress with the dirty commonness of the used tin cans. What a contradiction. It made me start to think about all the contradictions there are in my spiritual life. What worldly habits or tendencies do I have dragging behind me, weighing me down? Do I live with the dirty habits of my flesh clinging to the purity of my spirit?

Wouldn’t it be great if the night before a person’s wedding, instead of bachelor parties or stressful rehearsals, the bride and groom spent that time labeling those old cans with words that represented the things they needed to leave behind that would intrude upon their new life, all the sinful restrictions of the past. Words like: absent father, overbearing mother, disastrous past relationships - anything that could shade and diminish the strength of their new relationship would be written across the cans.

They could then tie these cans to the back of the car the night before, laying them on the ground as a sign of their laying down of the past; then just before they drove off, the minister would cut the strings in the name of Jesus as a symbol of them leaving behind the captive regret of their experiences, dreams, and judgments.

So I ask: How different is my “marriage” to Christ?

What past experiences or habits might be intruding upon my relationship with God today? What have I allowed to enter into this spiritually unique relationship that has negatively affected my Godly affections?

Father-God, You consider the church Your bride. I recommit myself to You and renew my “vows.” I lay down and offer up anything that has intruded into our relationship.

Check out: Song of Solomon: 8:7