The bride of Christ, the church, and all that is right and wrong about her, is constantly on my heart. (my bride pictured here --> )I've been thinking about posting my thoughts on this topic for a long time, but it is overwhelming to even consider writing about it, because the conversation is just so huge.
So... I've decided to break it up and just write smaller posts as things hit me hard. It may be unorganized, random, and such, but it's better than nothing... right?
Today's thought is one that is more disturbing to me than most. It really breaks my heart.
And that is that the church today, at least a lot of it, is causing more damage than glory to the name of Christ.
Our attempts to live and minister without the power of the Holy Spirit, through our own wisdom, by our own strength, and blatantly fleshy - represents Christ falsely and blemishes His name.
We represent the cross to the world and yet we fail to walk in the freedom it gave us and we fail to receive the power and grace that comes from the Holy Spirit. We misrepresent Christ and our God because we think we can handle it on our own and we neglect to surrender to Him.
Humans sin and mess up, and the church is made up of humans. So, Christians are going to mess up, and that is ok. That is life. However, it is one thing to be a body of believers who, in humility, repent passionately and honestly fall on our faces.
Instead, so often when we act up, we make excuses, argue our case, or hide from our mistakes.
These things hurt so bad because they completely disregard the cross. The gift Christ gave for our sins is rejected when we act like we don't need it.
Instead the bride must be wholly dependant on her Lord.
What if the Christian church was known for it's humility and reliance on God rather than its self-righteousness?
What if people could meet an average "Christian" and truly get a picture of Christ?
That would be a beautiful bride.
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