Barely able to keep the tears from my eyes, I walked down the church aisle, flowers in hand. My white train swished behind me. In just a few short hours, I would be walking down this same aisle to Nate, my soon-to-be husband.

For now, as we waited, I was walking down the aisle to someone else. This man’s back was turned to me as I made my way closer to him, the suspense building as we inched nearer to this long-awaited moment. As I gently tapped him on the shoulder, he slowly turned.

At that moment I met my father’s tear-filled gaze. The emotion on his face was something I will never forget. As he held me close, the reality of what was to take place that day began to hit us. My dad had guided, protected, and provided for me all my life, and now he was preparing to give that role to another. There was a hint of sadness as we let go of one season and yet unspeakable joy as we remembered all of God’s faithfulness in leading our families to this day.

Hours later, it was finally time. I watched all of my bridesmaids file into the ceremony while my heart raced. Yet, the calming presence of my Savior washed over me. My song began, and I knew it was the moment. Holding Dad’s arm, I was escorted into that beautiful room with the almost unbelievable realization, “This is it!” Nate’s face was turned away from me just as my dad’s had been not long before. As the music swelled, my sweet groom turned to face me. Watching him weep with joy and awe was a moment that will forever be engraved in my memory. This was a day we had dreamed about not only since our engagement but all of our lives. Finally, here we stood. We were ready to vow our lives, our love, and our everything to each other.

Several weeks later, the two of us were watching our wedding highlight video for the first time. Our eyes were glued to the screen, amazed at how the moments playing before us depicted every emotion of the wedding day in only five minutes. It was truly beautiful! The things that stuck out to me most as the memories danced before my eyes were my dad’s face when he saw me for the first time and Nate’s face when I walked down the aisle. They were expressions of joy and unspeakable emotion that I have never seen on either of them before, and they were expressions of which I felt completely undeserving.

The next morning, while these images still played and replayed in my head, I began my devotions and read verses that spoke of God’s steadfast love and goodness. As I read these passages, the faces of my dad and my husband flashed in my mind. I suddenly realized, “That is how my Savior sees me. That is how He sees us.” The thought made me stop in awe. The love that I felt in those two moments was indescribable. Yet the realization that such love can’t even be compared with the love of my Savior completely blew me away. Nevertheless, that love and gaze is the reality of our lives as believers. We are seen, known, and cherished with an indescribable love.

What does this gaze mean for you and me? How does this knowledge change the way we live our lives? First, we need to live as those who are seen. We should examine our ways, remembering that Christ knows every thought, word, and deed. This examination then leads us to walk as He would have us walk.

When I was growing up, I felt safe when Dad was around. He never failed to remind me that his role as my father was to be my protector and provider. At the same time, I knew that my behavior needed to honor him or there would be consequences. Now that I am married, I feel most protected when I am with Nate, but I also feel the desire and the call to represent him well. I wear his ring and bear his name. Even more, our Savior, Father, and Bridegroom is closer than our very breath. We bear the Name above every other name; our hearts are those won by the Savior; and our souls are sealed by His Holy Spirit. Simultaneously that is meant to be a comfort and a call for transformation in every area of our lives.

Second, this realization should completely transform the way we see God and ourselves. As I began my role as a wife, I was faced with mountains of insecurity. I was commencing a lifestyle and job title completely new to me. Even though I was excited, I saw my failures and shortcomings every day. Our little apartment wasn’t as organized as I thought it should be, I didn’t work as quickly as I told myself I should, and I wasn’t blamelessly patient and selfless toward my husband. Those first months of marriage were some of the most humbling of my life.

Yet, God used that season to remind me that my identity is not in my productivity or lack thereof. It is not even found in my husband, though his love is committed to me for life. Our identity is found in Christ’s gaze of unconditional love. It forces us to look our sin square in the face because we are seen by an all-knowing, righteous Creator who must judge our iniquities.

However, it doesn’t leave us there. Instead, it guides our gaze back to the Savior and reminds us who we really are—His beloved children, His cherished bride. This is our identity, not because we are entitled to it, but because Christ is. Our identity is founded in who He is and in His redemptive sacrifice on our behalf. The Father’s gaze is one of undeserved grace that calls for our awestruck humility.

Finally, we can take comfort in knowing that, though we are fully seen, we are perfectly and completely loved. I knew that marriage was designed to be a picture of Christ and His love for the church, but it became much more real to me once the wedding day was over and real married life began. Those first months of marriage felt like a mirror on my soul, and I didn’t like what I saw: selfishness, impatience, and laziness, along with all the ways I wanted to love Nate perfectly but will always fall short. I was afraid for Nate to see who I really was. Yet, the more I humbled my heart, let him in, and gave him all of me, the more he loved me. In return, I loved him all the more. As he loved me unconditionally, I saw the love of Jesus lived out.

Marriage is a place of being more vulnerable than you have ever been before. But in Christ it can be a place of being known and loved more completely than you ever thought possible. And that love is first true of our Savior and His gaze.

Our God looks on us and, instead of seeing who we are in our total depravity, He sees Christ’s righteousness. Because of this, He beams. The same Father who looked at Jesus and said, “‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased’” (Matt. 3:17), now sees us, too, as beloved. Our Lord sees us with eyes of both a Father and a Bridegroom—the One who loves us with an everlasting love, the One who chose us before the foundation of the world, and the Champion who redeemed our souls and holds our hearts. The sin that once defined us has now been thrown as far as the east is from the west. He no longer sees our stains of sin and unworthiness. He now sees new creations, the souls His beloved Son died to save. Because of Christ Jesus, it is a gaze that is undeserved, a gaze that is from everlasting to everlasting, and a gaze of grace—the gaze of the Savior.

“Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings” (Ps. 17:8).

“Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his steadfast love” (Ps. 33:18).

“Behold our shield, O God; look on the face of your anointed!” (Ps. 84:9).

“‘The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.’” (Num. 6:24–26).