If you are a husband, you will remember your special day.

She was beautiful.

I know I wasn’t to see her prior to the ceremony, but I couldn’t resist. Her white wedding gown, the lace, perfect makeup, and youthful beauty, left me proud and in awe of my bride.

Never mind I would soon learn she squeezed the toothpaste from the wrong end. For now, she was a beautiful bride.

Before I get into trouble, she still is my beautiful bride.

I don’t understand it. Jesus uses this same image of a beautiful bride to describe church.

Does He and I see the same church?

I see a church full of sinners. They fight with each other on the inside and offend those on the outside. I see a church that is often more interested in pleasing self than in obeying Jesus. I see me as a critic far too often than I see me loving like Jesus. My view of church can be ugly.

Is Jesus blind? Is He naive?

What is it Jesus sees that calls him to refer to church as His beautiful and spotless bride?

I love being in the presence of positive people. It is exciting to imagine visions that could be.

I remember when a good friend rescued a rusted old 39 Chevy from the junk heap, one would have thought he struck gold. Through the film of rust, he could imagine new paint, custom upholstery, a rebuilt engine, and shiny black tires.

I like people who can see the shine instead of the rust.

I suspect that is analogous to the beauty Jesus sees in His bride. He sees the shine.

It is in the church where Jesus whittles away the rough edges of people and sees their likeness to Him begin to emerge.

The real treat will come after this earth when Jesus will see His church dressed to the nines through His own sacrificial blood. In the blink of an eye—like a celestial Cinderella—His bride will be perfect and beautiful.

Never again will she squeeze the toothpaste tube from the wrong end.

Sounds like a game plan worth my feeble effort to live like Jesus and be a member of His body.

Stay tuned.

Gary J. Sorrells Reflection on Cross Church

http://www.Godreflection.org