I figured it would be the perfect thing to share with you today. It's hard to use other sources sometimes for my posts, but this is worth sharing. Bob explains this way better than I ever could and this metaphor is one of those things that is important to understand and we have the best chance at understanding it through the way that he writes it.
The next couple of paragraphs are straight from the book Everybody Always, written by Bob Goff.
God calls the church His bride. It's a beautiful metaphor, full of love and anticipation and commitment. Have you ever gone to a wedding where the bride walked in and a guy in row four held up a card with a "7" on it like they do in the Olympics, whispering to the person next to him, "I've seen better"?
Of course not! The bride steals the show. Every time.
Do you know what makes the bride look terrific? It's not the fancy dress or the flowers or the music. Those things are great, but what makes the bride look terrific is everyone in the room knows the groom chose her to be his and she's chosen him to be hers. The two of them can't wait to spend forever together. I think this is the reason why God calls us His bride.
The picture of the church helps me understand some of the most difficult questions I've had about how God sees all of us. It's pretty easy to understand, really. God loves and and He wants to spend forever together. We're His bride. He doesn't see all our flaws; He just sees us. God doesn't hold up a scorecard as we walk by either. He sees Jesus. It's that simple The way our church will return to the loving and accepting place the Bible talks about is by keeping our eyes on the Groom instead of one another. We can put all the scorecards away.
Perhaps if we spent a little more time looking at the Groom, we'd start seeing ourselves the way He does. To God, we look just terrific. Does our church have problems? You bet. But He continues to pick us to spread His love to the world. I'm not sure why. To be honest, I wouldn't have. But He said He picked us, and that's all I need to know to be part of the celebration. We're the bride of Christ, not because of what we look like but because go who we are trying to act like. That's our church.
It's me again...isn't that terrific?? There isn't too much else I need to or want to add to it because I don't want to ruin everything that Bob had to say.
My favorite little part in there is the God doesn't see all our flaws; He just sees us. I love that. Let that be a reminder to you every day!
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