The Sign On Your Heart

There is a verse in Isaiah that prophesies that the day will come when seven women will try to marry themselves to one man; they don’t want anything from him—they can supply their own needs—they just want to be called by his name. In this day and age, when polygamy is pretty much a thing of the past, and a lot of modern women really don’t feel the need to get married, anyway. I have a hard time seeing, say, John Johnson being approached by seven different women, all wanting to be Mrs. John Johnson, and assuring him that he doesn’t have to provide for them, they just don’t want to be Miss Spears, Miss Aguilera, Miss Taquila, Miss Hilton, Miss Alba, Miss Biel, and Miss Fox anymore. They just want to be able to say that they found a husband. So what is this all about?
I have mentioned before that there a number of New Testament references that compare the relationship between Christ and the church to a bridegroom and his bride. Now we know that there is only one true church. I don’t mean that one specific denomination is right and everybody else is wrong; but that there are a lot of people out there that want to call themselves Christians, but not really want to have anything to do with Jesus. They aren’t going to partake of the daily bread that He provides, they won’t wear the garments that He provides, they don’t even intend to abide in His house; they just want to be called Christians. I have written before about the significance of the wedding garment in parable of the wedding feast, but suffice it to say that God cast out a man that came to judgment not wearing the robes of righteousness that God provides to true Christians. If the Bride of Christ is the church, then it follows that these other seven women that want to be called by the name of some man that, let’s face it, they married in a sham marriage, these women represent false churches. Keep in mind that a church is a body of believers, not a building or a denomination or even a religious organization. You may sit beside someone in church on Sunday morning that doesn’t believe what you believe, and so, even though you may worship together, the two of you aren’t really part of the same church. The tares grow right in the midst of the wheat, after all….
There’s an amusing series of videos on GodTube (a parody of the Apple commercials where one guy is a Mac and the other one is a PC) where one guy says he is a Christian and the other one is a Christ-follower. The thing is, though, it doesn’t matter what you call yourself, if you aren’t following Christ, then you aren’t a Christian.
One thing that bothers me about the religious world today: A lot of times when I ask someone what religion they are part of, they tell me what denomination they belong to. I understand that it may be important to convey specifically what you believe, but is your greater allegiance to your denomination, or to your Lord and Savior? In the long run, the sign over the door to your church is a lot less important than the sign on the door to your heart—which should say, “No Vacancy.”
I was going to provide a link to some song lyrics here, but I can’t find the lyrics I wanted anywhere on the web. That’s pretty unusual. Anyway, here are the lyrics:

“Brand New Sign”
I’ve got a brand new sign,
With bright red letters,
Hanging on the door of my heart.
Since the Lord moved in,
I have never felt better;
My life has changed,
I’ve made a new start.
So I’ll let the devil know
He isn’t wanted anymore,
When he comes calling on me.
Oh, how mad he’s gonna be
When he begins to read,
“Full up, no vacancy!”