I saw a clip once from some type of sports event. They were doing what they called a kiss cam. They would take the camera and place it on a man and woman sitting together and broadcast it on a big screen. At this point the assumed couple were supposed to kiss. Kinda like mistletoe magnified exponentially. Well the camera stopped on this man and woman sitting together and just stayed on them. Finally he held up a sign that said, “She’s my sister.” They had a good laugh from this.
We read something in the book of Genesis that most of us don’t understand. Abraham said, Because I thought, Surely the fear of God is not in this place; and they will slay me for my wife’s sake (Genesis 20:11 KJV). As Abraham goes into different places he tells them that Sarah is his sister instead of his wife. He does this because he is afraid of what will happen to him. If we read on we see that this habit begins to be repeated with Isaac and his wife Rebecca.
This seems strange to us as it should. Most of us, I would hope, would declare that this is my wife. It should be known to those around us that we are married. You see you can’t help who your sister is. Your wife is a choice though. By saying “she’s my wife” you are establishing that you chose to be with her and you are in covenant with her. This is not the case if they are your sister, there is no covenant. A marriage is a different relationship and has different responsibilities. You spend more time with your wife than your sister.
Do you know that Sarah is a type of the church? Do we do what Abraham did, when questioned about our association or relationship with the church, the bride of Christ. Do we minimize our association somehow? Are we dismissive about our connection? Are we trying to protect ourselves from what others may think about us? Hiding our relationship with the church is inherently hiding our relationship with Christ. If we are doing this, then our children will likely do the same thing as Isaac did.
Just as we should not hide that we are married, we should not hide that we are connected to the church. We should be proud that we are in the church, connected to a body of believers in Christ. We should not forsake the assembling of ourselves together (Hebrews 10:25) as we would not avoid being around our wife. Take this knowledge and apply it to your life. Let people know that you are in relationship with Christ and are a part of His church.
Ephesians 5:25 KJV Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
Matthew 10:32 NET “Whoever, then, acknowledges me before people, I will acknowledge before my Father in heaven.