Happily Ever After

Three months into our stay-at-home orders and the COVID pandemic is still impacting all of us in different ways. The big plans we each had for our lives may be canceled, postponed, or redirected, and yet we can be assured of a “happily ever after” because of our faith in Christ.

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When princess Anna’s prince Hans turned out to be a jerk in Disney’s movie Frozen, I admit I was surprised. But I was kind of happy. Their meeting was so cute and awkward, and she really felt like he was the one. But he wasn’t. So many other Disney princesses were rescued by their ideal man, their prince. But Anna’s prince let her down. 

The question that seems to linger around fairy tales for the last 20 years is, REALLY? Damsel in distress? Perfectly timed heroics? Full resolution and happily ever after? Really? You’re telling kids to expect life to be like this? Life is not so convenient. Really? 

Don’t we wish life could be like a fairy tale movie? It starts pleasantly. We get to know our characters. Adventure and conflict bring challenges. Our hero gets beaten up but emerges victorious. Good wins, evil is punished, and they all live happily ever after.  

Well, the Bible tells that story, but you have to pay attention to catch it. We start in a beautiful garden. Everything is wonderful. Creator and creation enjoy one another in perfect harmony. But then, darkness, greed, selfishness…  The villain offers a poisoned apple, and everything changes….

We wish for a fairy tale life, and in a very real way we have it.

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.

1 John 4:7

It’s all about Jesus. He’s known as the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6) who will return riding a white horse (Rev. 19:11-16). John the Baptist called himself the friend of the Bridegroom. The Bible is a Love Story told over centuries.  

God wants to marry his bride. Ever since Adam and Eve’s fall into sin, God has been working and planning to fix our relationship with him. Creator wants to reunite with creation in perfection. He made Paradise…We lost paradise. But he promised to make it better. He said to the crown of his creation, “I will come for you. I will rescue you.”

At Mt. Sinai, in the Ten Commandments, God’s people entered into a Divine wedding covenant. In the commandments, the Creator and his creation promised to be faithful to one another. There have been tokens of affection (ceremonial sacrifices, scapegoats, fasting, festivals), symbols of love and faithfulness. But the Bible also tells of the spiritual adulteries of Israel. God’s own people were unfaithful and spent their love elsewhere. They put their trust in false gods who had never done anything for them. They bowed to statues ironically made from wood, stone, or metal that the Creator had put on the earth.

And yet, our God continued planning and working, preparing for the rescue of his beloved church. God still wants to marry his bride. Jesus’ life was the great rescue mission. He was righteous. He slayed the dragon. He died in battle. “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: 

“While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Romans 5:8

The Faithful fell for the sake of the unfaithful…And praise God, he didn’t stay down. Jesus got back up and saved his princess, the family of believers. And Jesus carries his bride over the threshold into the castle. As he carries his bride, he says, “Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you.” (Hebrews 13:5)

For as a young man marries a virgin, So your sons will marry you; And as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, So your God will rejoice over you.

Isaiah 62:5

It’s all about you. Your love story is personalized. Baptism, family, friends, and especially your time spent in prayer and the word. Read those letters.  The Bible is for you.  

You do live that fairy tale…at the same time as living a less-than-ideal reality. Those two realities are woven together. 

Just as your old Adam and New Man exist together in you, so also your life contains the ultimate blessing and the creeping curse of sin.  You are “Simul Iustus et Peccator”- saint and sinner at the same time.

I will rejoice greatly in the LORD, My soul will exult in my God; For He has clothed me with garments of salvation, He has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness, As a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, And as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

Isaiah 61:10

When you get to heaven, maybe God will reveal to you all the perfectly timed events in your life. The people that entered and exited. Just-right words spoken that caused you to think thoughts that informed the decisions that changed the course of your life. The song that came on the radio at just the right time. The angels re-positioning the foot that slipped to keep you from falling down the stairs. Stalling you with an annoyance to keep you away from the massive car accident. All the little events that only you know and remember are tokens of love from your God. Little blessings that he whispers into your life. He’s sweet. And he wants things to be like they used to be, back in the Garden.  

Actually, “Happily ever after”… exists. I don’t tell you this to cheapen scripture into some childish fantasy. Instead, realize that our longings for real love and real resolution are reflections of our lost Eden. We wish for an existence that seems like a trite daydream through the lens of sinful reasoning. We feel that we weren’t made for this world of greed and pride and division.  

The fact is, we weren’t made for this. We were made for perfection. We were made to dwell side by side with our good and perfect God. Heaven is our home. But with a heart of faith, know that the longing is for the happily ever after that God our bridegroom has promised. We just want that day to come. But for now we watch and wait. We wish for a fairy tale life and we do actually have it. The happiness and resolution we wish for doesn’t come until the end of the story though.

Right now we’re in the challenging part of the story. The battles of temptation and faith, trust and doubt rage within and without. Our thoughts are confusing, our world unstable…But our God is faithful. Listen to his assuring voice:

“Never will I leave you…Never will I forsake you.”

Keep watch for the bridegroom. Soul, adorn yourself with gladness.  

And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband.

Revelation 21:2

You can learn more about Jason’s work at JJJaspersen.com or connect with him on social media @JJJaspersen.