Real life Illustrations of Biblical Truth

I just finished reading my dear sister-in-law's interesting post about having to go to the Civil Register to 'get married again'. It brought back memories of a time almost thirty three years ago when we arrived in Argentina with three children and eight years of marriage (proved by a marriage certificate which was notarized, legalized and had all the other legal requirements applied to it), when I went to pick up our National Identity Documents, and found that, although Mary's had a notation to the effect that she was married, mine showed me as single. I was especially provoked because of the trouble I had taken to get every i dotted and every t crossed, and to top it all off, I did not think to have a photocopy, but gave them the original, which they did not return.

So here I was, a 'single' man, living with a married woman with three kids, and serving as a missionary in Argentina. What to do? I couldn't marry her, for she was already married. I couldn't leave her because I loved her, had promised to care for and protect her, and she had three children by me.

This crazy state of affairs was, of course only an international bureaucratic snafu. But several years later, as I was teaching through the book of Romans, it became clear that there was more to it than that.

Because I was present when our marriage took place, (boy was I ever... it rained cats and dogs that afternoon, and about two hours before the wedding found me mopping up the foyer of the church where the torrents of rain had come in through a broken window) I knew that I was married. I also knew that Mary was my wife, because when I lifted her veil to kiss her, I recognized it was she and not one of her sisters.

So in my personal history book, these facts took precedence over anything any Civil Registry officer could say. Maybe they thought I was not married because the person married was Lynn Arthur Hoyt, and they had me listed as Arturo Lyn Hoyt but the fact remains that my marriage was deeply etched in my memory, and they could not take that away from me. I can, and I will, live as one who 'considers' himself married. Even if I wanted to experiment, there would be no loophole which would give me any right to a dalliance based on the laws of Argentina.

The Apostle Paul challenges us to live on the basis of what we know to be true. We know that our salvation is a sure and guaranteed fact because the guarantee comes from our bridegroom himself, who bought us and paid for us. Therefore He himself challenges us to "reckon" ourselves dead unto sin and alive unto God. His work on the cross made our salvation possible, and because of this we have every right to make an entry in our memory book which says that on such and such day, when we became part of the Bride of Christ through trust in Him, His righteousness was applied to our account, and we can set our course of action on the basis of that entry, paying no heed to the insinuations and accusations of the Enemy of our souls.

As we set our course of action in that direction, the next logical step is for us to yield our entire being to Him to obey the promptings of the Holy Spirit, who will just naturally prompt us to obey the Scriptures and be totally sold over to Him for His control.

Those are the theoretical facts of the case. So my question to myself is: Have you made that notation in your little black book that says: 'I am now the property of Jesus Christ, and there is noone else who can take His place'? Do you live that truth in spite of the enemy's slander and opposition? I pray this is so, both in my life and yours.