Usefulness or Unity?
My wife loves to watch great love
story movies. A few times a year I
actually sit down with her and watch movies like: The Notebook, Sleepless
in Seattle, or A Walk in The Clouds.
When we see characters demonstrating
patience, kindness, humility, gentleness, and selfless love – it moves us
deeply because that is the kind of relationship our Creator, God, desires with
us.
The things we believe about God
shape our relationship with Him. Some
may believe that the love of Christ demonstrated at the Cross is to save them
from sin. Some may believe that Christ redeems us to be useful tools for the Missio Dei, viz. the Mission of God. The
truth is that Christ redeems us individually to make us His Bride –
the Church.
The Bible uses the metaphor of a wedding
between bride & groom because there is not a more intimate and beautiful relationship
imaginable. When we “go to church” how often do we think of it as part of our
wedding celebration as the Bride of Christ? We should because that’s exactly how God sees it (See Matt
22; Rev 19:6-9).
God’s ultimate desire for you/us is to be His Bride – the most intimate relationship we can imagine. It is exclusively from the intimacy of that divinely-ordained relationship
that our purpose, pliancy, and power flow.
If you’re resting on your personal
salvation or trying to be useful for God apart from the relationship He intends
for humanity, i.e. the Church as His Bride, then it is a greater abomination to
God than anything else imaginable.
The extent of your identification
with the Bride of Christ conveys to God the intimacy of your relationship with
Him. Are you seeking benefits… trying to be ‘useful’… or desiring the deepest and most intimate relationship
imaginable with Christ – our Bridegroom?
Blessings,
-Kevin
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