Christ's Bride

"I sometimes struggle with how to respond to God's magnitude in a world bent on ignoring or merely tolerating Him."

~Francis Chan

I've been reading through Crazy Love again for a book study I started here in Gainesville and this quote really jumped out at me today. I'm also reading through 1 Corinthians right now and I have been seeing many parallels between the problems within their Church and within the modern American Church: pride, sexual immorality, division, all characterized by an overall lack of identity in Christ. Paul even calls them unrighteous "adikos" in the Greek meaning they look no different than the unbelieving world. The American Church definitely has definitely heard some of those same things. Anyways I didn't write this note to criticize the Church, because I am part of it I just want to draw our attention to it so that we can change it by living lives consumed by the Holy Spirit.

I feel like the world's attitude of merely tolerating God has snuck into the Church. We take ourselves too seriously and we ignore God in the process. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 "Or do you not know that you body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body." We are not our own. That is humbling. I was talking to a friend today about high school relationships and how in highschool our relationships were so serious and so important, and it only took a couple years afterwards to realize that the way we were acting was ridiculous. It was just highschool, but we thought we knew everything and had it all together. Do we want to live our lives taking ourselves so seriously and then get to the end and realize how ridiculous that is? Life isn't like highschool we don't get to laugh and joke about it when it's over. We do not belong to ourselves. I think it's relieving, because there is no way I could save myself.

Not only do we take ourselves too seriously, but the Church is Christ's bride and we are whoring ourselves out to whatever passes by. Manipulating the Bible and making idols out of what God has given us to justify what we want. Despite all of this Christ has set us apart. Despite the corruption at Corinth in 2 Corinthians 12:12 Paul is apologizing for burdening the church and says "The signs of true apostle were performed among you with utmost patience, with signs and wonders and mighty works." God is definitely still working in our Church despite our adulterous behavior.

1 Corinthians 6:9-11

⁹Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, ¹⁰nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. ¹¹And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

The unrighteous among us the "adikos" those resembling the unbelievers do not inherit the kingdom of God. But we have been made clean, sanctified, and justified through Christ. God loves us. That is crazy. Just stop and think for a second that the Creator of the universe loves you and made you clean with the blood of his Son. This sort of love deserves a response just as crazy (and that's the premise of Crazy Love.) Let's live for Christ and not continue to merely tolerate God. Let's respond to God's magnitude in love in such a manner that it awakens our Church to truth. We are clean and we belong to God.

"But know this: God will not be tolerated. He instructs us to worship and fear Him."

~Francis Chan