Cherish is a word that we hear, but often don't take the time to consider. If you are married, the chances are you even repeated this word on your wedding day promising to "love and to cherish" your spouse as long as you both shall live. Many have an idea of what it means in some form to love, but do you know what it means to cherish?
The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines the word cherish as to hold dear, feel or show affection for, to keep or cultivate with care and affection. It goes on to say that to cherish is to harbour in the mind deeply and resolutely.
The Strong's Concordance uses slightly different words to describe cherish. The Hebrew word for cherish is cakan and means to be useful, profitable, take care of things when needed, to know someone intimately, to nourish and to nurse.
What is interesting, is that the word cherish is only found once in the Bible in 1 Kings 1:2. At the time King David was old and they were looking for someone to cherish Him.
Verse 2 of 1 Kings 1 reads, "wherefore his servants said unto him, Let there be sought for my lord the king a young virgin: and let her stand before the king, and let her cherish him, and let her lie in thy bosom, that my lord the king may get heat."
How we cherish in a marriage is to put away our need to be right, our pride and our own agendas and to start living for our spouse. This is what this young lady did caring for the aging king.
Now if you are single and wondering how any of this applies to you, know that if you are a Christian than you are in fact married to Christ and all of the above applies.
We must cherish God and the things of God to be profitable in our Christianity and to be profitable brides of Christ.
Just like the spouse that needs to give up their need to be right we must also as Christians give up our need to be right in order to seek God's perspectives. Often what is right in our own eyes is not right in God's, so we must relinquish those rights to serve and be useful.
Before making decisions or correcting and encouraging others, examine yourself to see that your own agenda is not motivating your actions but instead a care for others.
Think about the word cherish in the Week coming up and ask God for ideas on how you can cherish more your spouse and cherish Christ.
Examine yourself often asking God to reveal to you areas in which your own agenda is taking over.