I’ve been preparing for a wedding this weekend.  AND… I’m preaching on marriage at Calvary this weekend — Leaving a Mark on Our Marriage. I remember my wedding day. I wasn’t nervous at all.  I was riding a cross-country motorcycle and jumping from a 30 ft bridge into a river. I got dressed and I wasn’t nervous. I went to the church and I wasn’t nervous. I stood out on the platform and I watched Lynn come down the aisle and I wasn’t nervous. We sang a duet and I wasn’t nervous. But when he said, “Do you, Dan take Lynn…” it hit me…this is one of the most important decisions I will make in my life. With God’s help, I am committing everything I am to this woman standing beside me.

Now if you know Lynn, you know that — except for the day I committed my life to Jesus — it was the best decision I’ve ever made.

I didn’t question whether marrying Lynn was the choice of a lifetime.  I was simply taking seriously the fact that I was making a whole-life, whole-heart kind of commitment.  What if I would’ve said, “Well Lynn, I’ve thought a lot about this and you can have me on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, but I need to be with someone else on Tuesday and Thursday…and Saturday and Sunday belong to me.”   Or what if I said, “Sweets, death do us part, that seems kinda long and I would kinda like to wait on that whole sickness and sorrow, thing…but you know for right now, for this moment…I’m good to go.”

Bottom line — the only appropriate response at a wedding is…  I do. As in all of me, forever, no matter what, with all my heart… I do. Without saying “I do” I would’ve missed out on all the incredible moments that life with Lynn has given me.

So let me ask you this question, “Have you said I Do to Jesus?”  In sickness and in health, in joy and in sorrow, for richer for poor, I pledge you my love and faithfulness. I give you leadership of my life.  We’ll never experience the delight that comes from being the bride of Christ till we say I Do.  As in all of me, forever, no matter what, with all my heart…I do.

We’ll never experience the incredible fullness of the presence of God until we say I Do.  I Do is 24/7/365 — 100%.  It’s not about being perfect, but it is about humble perseverance and practiced passion.  Is Jesus your passion? Have you decided to make him your one and only?

A woman entered a Haagen-Dasz store on the Kansas City Plaza for an ice-cream cone. After making her selection, she turned and found herself face to face with Paul Newman, in town filming the movie Mr. & Mrs. Bridge. He smiled and said hello.  Newman’s blue eyes caused her knees to shake. She managed to pay for her cone, then left the shop, heart pounding. When she gained her composure, she realized she didn’t have her snack. She started back into the store to get it and met Newman at the door. “Are you looking for your ice cream?” he asked. She nodded, unable to speak. “You put it in your purse with your change.”  When was the last time the presence of Jesus quickened our pulse?  Is Jesus your passion?

Jack Deere in his book Surprised by the Power of the Spirit says,

I want these passionate feelings to characterize my relationship with the Lord Jesus. …if discipline is what ultimately drives us in our pursuit of Jesus, eventually we will give up that pursuit. But a man or woman in love will never quit. I want my life to be characterized by an unrestrained affection for the Son of God.

Do you?  I do.