This document discusses the concepts of devotion, love, worship, loyalty, prayer, and reverence as they relate to religious faith. It examines biblical passages that use metaphors of a bride and bridegroom to represent the relationship between believers and Jesus Christ. The key ideas are that true faith requires an intimate relationship with God through practices like prayer, worship, obedience to scripture, and awaiting Christ's return. Superficial or nominal faith is not enough. Believers must devote themselves fully to God through their thoughts, words and actions.

1. Devotion
All NKJV unless otherwise specified
Oxford Dictionary Definitions
Devotion
• noun 1 great love or loyalty. 2 religious worship. 3 (devotions) prayers or religious observances.
Love
• noun 1 an intense feeling of deep affection. 2 a great interest and pleasure in something. 3 a person or thing that one loves.
Worship
• noun 1 the feeling or expression of reverence and adoration for a deity. 2 religious rites and ceremonies. 3 great admiration
or devotion.
Loyalty
• noun (pl. loyalties) 1 the state of being loyal. 2 a strong feeling of support or allegiance.
Prayer
• noun 1 a request for help or expression of thanks addressed to God or another deity. 2 (prayers) a religious service at which
people gather to pray together. 3 an earnest hope or wish.
Reverence
• noun 1 deep respect. 2 archaic a bow or curtsy.
Adoration
• verb love and respect deeply.
The bible refers to the church as the ‘bride of Christ’ and to Jesus as the ‘Bridegroom’.
Matthew 25 v1-13
1
“Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.
2
“Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish. 3
“Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them,
4
“but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. 5
“But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept.
6
“And at midnight a cry was heard: ‘Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!’ 7
“Then all those virgins arose
and trimmed their lamps. 8
“And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ 9
“But the
wise answered, saying, ‘No, lest there should not be enough for us and you; but go rather to those who sell, and buy for
yourselves.’ 10
“And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the
wedding; and the door was shut. 11
“Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us!’ 12
“But he
answered and said, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.’ 13
“Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the
hour in which the Son of Man is coming.
 This is a message for the ready and the unready.
 It is a message for the children of God (as referred to by the 10 virgins) – the children of God (virgins) have their sins
washed away by the blood of Jesus.
 The virgins were ‘engaged’ to the bridegroom, but the marriage ceremony had not yet occurred.
 The virgins were required to ‘wait upon/eagerly wait for’ the bridegroom. There was to be a sense of expectation and
excitement.
 In 2 Corinthians 11 v2-3 (NIV) Paul writes “v2 I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one
husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him. V3 But I am afraid that just as Eve was
deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to
Christ.”
 What were the virgins supposed to be doing? Carrying light with them! As children of God, we are to be light bearers,
we must shine the light, we must be in the service of God’s work for our lives. So we see that the virgins were to wait
upon the bridegroom’s return, all the while shining the light which they carried with them.
 We see 5 foolish virgins, who did not take enough oil with them. They did not plan ahead, they were there in order to
be present but their hearts were not there. It was a superficial attendance. This characterizes Christians who are merely
in church attendance, “Sunday Christians”, those who are ‘religious’ for the sake of man’s approval as opposed to
Christ’s approval.
 We also see 5 wise virgins, who carried the extra oil (grace) which is used for light. We are to live in the light as Jesus
is in the light. 1 John 1v7 “7
But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and

2. the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.” We can see from this that their hearts were in the right
place with God. For the diligent Christian, the following characteristics prevail: (a) Faith in Jesus Christ, (b) Love for
God and love for others; (c) Obedience to the Word; (d) A looking/longing for Christ’s return; (e) A relationship with
God.
 This relationship is a two way relationship.
 Note that all slumbered and slept. The scripture even says that the wise virgins slumbered and slept. We are to watch
out against becoming slothful and losing our zeal and passion for the Lord. When a new Christian comes to the truth,
there is a honeymoon period of zeal and passion and energy which is like nothing else on earth. However as time goes
by, the enemy brings attacks, complacency can set in, and we can find that the flaming fire becomes little more than a
pilot-flame. We are to guard against this. The way to guard against this is to practice the biblical disciplines which
help us continue to grow into Jesus. This will be covered below.
 Now the foolish virgins wanted the oil. As death approaches (the point we are to meet Jesus), the foolish virgins all of
a sudden want oil. All of a sudden as death approaches, the lukewarm Christians, who have lived their lives putting
God in a box and placing him in a closet, living carnal lives because of the strictness of the requirements of the
gospel, now they want to ‘suddenly’ get religious. Only now, at the point of death, do they want to take God out of the
closet and out of the box, and get close to Him. It would indeed be a foolish person who approaches life in this way.
At this point it would be wise to ask ourselves the question “Am I putting God in a box in my life?”
Matthew 7 v21-23
21
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in
heaven. 22
“Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your
name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23
“And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you
who practice lawlessness!’
 Verse 23 is clear. We are to know God. The meaning of the word ‘know’ in this instance means to be ‘intimately
acquainted with’.
 What are some of the disciplines involved in getting acquainted with God?
o Prayer (communicate with God)
o Fasting (denying oneself that which led to the fall of man)
o Worship
o Fellowship with other Christians (in homes – the model shown in the book of Acts)
o Reading and believing the Word of God (God’s will is revealed in the Bible)
o Responding to the prompting of the Holy Spirit (inner voice/conscience)
o Sharing your testimony
o Reaching out to the lost
o Giving
o Obedience
 Each of the above are practical and can be practiced by a Christian. The above involves a choice. You either choose
to practice this or choose not to. There is action on our part. This decision remains with us, and cannot and will not be
imposed by God. The above disciplines lay the solid foundation for our relationship with God.
Romans 12 v1-2
1
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to
God, which is your reasonable service. 2
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your
mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
 Living sacrifice – sacrifice means something has to be given up. Sacrifice involves death, but the scripture states you
should be a living sacrifice. This means the death is rather to the lusts of the flesh. We put the flesh to death when we
starve it of what it desires. The choice to deny the flesh’s desires needs to be made daily. If we do this, God’s Word
states that this is our reasonable service to Him.
 Do not be conformed to the world, but rather be transformed by the renewing of your mind – to conform to the world
means to align your desires and with the world’s desires. Your behavior should not conform to the behavior of
unbelievers. But rather be transformed (completely changed) by the renewing of your mind. This means a new way of
thinking, thinking God’s thoughts and His will. When we practice the above disciplines, this transformation begins to
take place. You effectively get into partnership with God for your life. You choose to practice the above disciplines,
and God does the transforming for you. This is the essence of our relationship with God.

3. 1 Corinthians 6 v19-20
19
Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are
not your own? 20
For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.
 God has redeemed us (bought us) out of slavery to the world system (sin), and now we are slaves to righteousness in
Christ Jesus. There is no in-between (we cannot have two masters).
 Have we put Jesus on the throne in our lives? Have we truly made Him our Lord (not just our Saviour)?
 If we make Jesus our Lord, then this means that our bodies are no longer our own, but rather His, to do with as He
pleases. When we yield to this truth, then we have died to this world system but now live for the Kingdom of God.
 And the Word above says that we are to glorify God. We magnify Him in our lives.
 We glorify God when we devote ourselves to God and to His Kingdom purposes.
Song of Solomon 3v4(b)
When I found the one I love. I held him and would not let him go,
 This is the word of Solomon’s bride in the book Song of Solomon. It is also our appropriate response (as the bride) to
Jesus (the bridegroom).
Psalm 100
1
Make a joyful shout to the LORD, all you lands! 2
Serve the LORD with gladness; Come before His presence with singing.
3
Know that the LORD, He is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His
pasture. 4
Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.
5
For the LORD is good; His mercy is everlasting, And His truth endures to all generations.