I was meeting with my landscape architect the other day and I noticed a beautiful ring he was wearing that was made from sterling silver with a prominent cross engraved in it. I told him I really like it and he told me he bought it in Texas. A week later I was being cared for by a nurse during the pre-op phase of my rotator cuff surgery and noticed she was wearing the exact same cross ring. I told her about seeing an identical ring on my friend and I really like it. She told me she bought it in Texas. One thing led to another, and we talked a long time, (right up until they came got me for surgery) about Jesus. It turned out she had a rough upbringing but with Christ’s help had turned it around.
Okay, both of these folks wearing identical rings bought in Texas has to be more than a coincidence. I told my buddy about it and in about a week he handed me a small box and there was a shiny cross ring that he had ordered for me from a jewelry store in Kerr Texas and he refused to allow me to pay for it. I thanked him profusely and tried it on. Arghh… it was too small. He told me no problem and he sent it back and exchanged for another one that was one size larger.
When it came in I tried it on. and it was still too small to fit on my right hand but fit perfectly on my left. The problem is that is the hand on which I wear my wedding band. Hmmm…I tried putting both on and they fit perfectly. So I decided to wear them both. Suddenly it raced through my mind that I am one with Christ and one with my wife. Now how cool was it for God to share that with me. Not only is it cool but I look at it several times per day and each time I do so I think of being one with my Lord and my wife.
Say what you might, but I think our Lord wanted me to wear this ring in that fashion. I don’t need to be reminded of the sacrifice that He made but I relish He did this for me. It symbolizes my new life and wearing it alongside my wedding ring reminds me that He and I are one and this bond goes beyond death doing us part. Since my wife loves Jesus with all her heart she is one with Him also and will live forever with Christ as well.
A Christian’s “union with Christ” is the mysterious dark matter of the spiritual cosmos. It is a kind of glue that holds us together with the constellation of salvation and sanctification and glorification in Christ. Paul said, the believer has one single union with Christ (and Christ with the believer). Marriage as it appears in the Bible indicates we don’t have two marriages with our spouse nor do we with Christ. We love and honor God and our spouse.
Too much hocus pocus for you, well God loves me, and I love Him, and I have faith that this was a lesson He taught me and nothing is beyond His power. I know in my heart that this is not happenstance, and all of this story was orchestrated by God from my noticing the rings, obtaining one from Texas through a friend, it being too small to fit my right hand, to looking at it multiple times per day and musing on its significance in my life. I have thanked Him for this, not for a piece of jewelry, but for my daily reminder. Thank you Lord.
Romans 6:5
If we have become one with Christ in His death, we will be one with Him in being raised from the dead to new life.