love.

yes, there was nothing i did to deserve his love.

He saw me in the gutter, in my rags, and in my filth, and He said, "i love you. you are my bride." so what will i say? will i say, "well, rags were good enough for Him in the beginning. i guess they will be good enough for Him all the way." never!

rather i will say, "oh, don't you have some stronger soap? i need something that will get all this grime and grease off me. don't you have a wire brush i can use on my fingernails? and that is lovely perfume, but don't you have something even more elegant? He deserves the best!

"how He could have ever loved me i don't know, but today i will be all i can be for Him."

everyone else looking at her said, "what a worthless wench."

but the Prince saw His bride.

shall we persist in our rags, our grime - our sins? not at all! paul says, "thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness."

we must not sin, because we cannot return again to the slavery of sin when He has called us His bride.

-john n. oswalt