The following passage is used a lot in
marriage counseling, but maybe we need to apply it more to our understanding of
the church’s relationship to Jesus. 25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ
loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her
holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and
to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any
other blemish, but holy and blameless. 28 In this same way,
husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife
loves himself. 29 After all, no one ever hated their own body,
but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church— 30 for
we are members of his body. 31 “For this reason a man will
leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become
one flesh.”32 This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about
Christ and the church. - Ephesians 5:25-32 This teaching reveals a
lot about what Jesus thinks of His church and how He chooses to love us. God
created marriage to illustrate Christ’s love for the church.
Jesus views us as His
own body. In our union with Him, His life extends to us. The strongest argument
for you and I about why we should love the church is that Christ does. The
reason we should be passionately committed to the church is that Jesus is
passionately committed to the church.
Whose church do you belong? – One of your own
design or Jesus’?