I love you... but not your wife?

Imagine you went up to your good friend and said,

“Dude…. You’re awesome, but your wife. I just can’t stand her. I mean seriously, she’s super-lame.” 

I imagine you wouldn’t be good friends much longer. The quickest way to tick of a dude is to mess with his woman. But how many times do we bad-mouth the Jesus’ bride and act as if Jesus doesn’t even care? Do you think he will idly stand by while others bad-mouth his bride? 

The Church, according to Eph 5:25-33 is the bride of Christ. You can’t claim to love Jesus, but not love his bride- the church. Well…. I suppose you could, but you don’t know Jesus very well.

Eph 5 tells us that Jesus loves (agape) the church just as a husband would love his wife. As a matter of fact, his love for the church is so strong that, as men, we are supposed to model how we love our wives by how Jesus loves the church. It’s the standard. When it comes to loving his wife, there’s no one better than Jesus.

It’s easy to criticize the church- pointing out its blemishes, scars, abuses, moral failures, and hypocrisy. But really… finding fault with someone else doesn’t really take a lot of courage. “It takes no courage to criticize” to quote Anton Ego in Ratatouille. Yet many “Christians” join the chorus on blasting the church; particularly my generation and younger (born after 1980). They must not know Jesus as well as they thought. In doing so, I believe they grieve the heart of God.

I’m not submitting that we ignore problems. That’s naïveté. There has been way to much pain inflicted by the hands of people who claimed to be a Christ follower. But that’s a commentary on the individual, not the church. I'm submitting we need to acknowledge those problems, pursue growth, engage in solutions all while rejecting the sin of cynicism. Cynicism says that evil has had the loudest laugh and the last word. It says that God really isn’t in control of his church and that it’s beyond hope. Do you really believe that Jesus is not in control of his church? Do you believe that evil has triumphed- particularly over the church?

Repent. I did. I had to repent of cynicism toward the church. God showed me just a fraction of how much he loves His Church, and it was enough for me to say “I’m all in!” How bout you? Do you engage in solutions, or withdraw from the fight? Are you a critic who sits in the bleachers with their arms crossed, or are you a player on the field?