Jesus Doesn't Want A Child Bride

In general, the Church, the Bride of Christ, has been stunted and left as infants for far too long. When Jesus returns for His Bride, will he find a child, or a mature and beautiful woman? As we near the end times, we as believers must take a good long look at ourselves in the mirror and assess our level of maturity, wisdom, and power as children and ambassadors of God in this world against our age, knowledge, and our hosting the very presence of the Living God within us. Especially in this country - the nation of plenty, resources, and freedoms unmatched by a majority of the world - we believers all have access to God's Word, and means to do in-depth study of it, as well as the ability to submit ourselves to the Holy Spirit's teaching and interpreting it to us. We all have the ability to put our own personal lives on the altar and pursue God and His kingdom, living for Him and His purposes only. Why has nearly 2000 years left the majority of us still craving milk rather than meat, seeking comfortability rather than sacrificial obedience, gratifying the flesh and causing divisions within the Body rather than considering others better than ourselves and walking in unity? (Hebrews 5:12-14; I Corinthians 3:1-3)

"And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature humanbeing, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love." Ephesians 4:11-16

Look at what Jesus gave us, in order to grow us all up: five fold ministry leadership positions within the church - two of which have been rejected by a large portion of modern day theologians. This is just the tip of the iceberg. Anyone who can read, study, and be led by the Holy Spirit to learn God's Word can easily see that a vast majority of people who claim to love and respect the Bible fail to live up to that claim in their life by their words, deeds, or attitudes. We can easily see the enormous gap between today's church's priorities, power, and structure compared to how we are instructed in God's Word. As in the time of Jesus on the earth, the pharisaical spirit has once again fallen onto the church and remained there - and we are guilty of revering our traditions over God's Word. We prefer our version of doing things over what Jesus said. We use God's Word to interpret what we do instead of determining what we do on how the Holy Spirit of God interprets His Word to us. And here we are - void of any salt to flavor the world with, dimmed lights that barely are noticed in the dark - here we are at the mercy of pop culture and political agendas being nearly useless as a whole.

I know that there are some out there - that are not only genuine in their belief in Jesus, and in their love of Him, but that also lay down their very lives and take up their cross daily to follow Him. But these few are one or two in not even in each local congregation of sometimes many hundreds. If everyone in this country who claimed they were a Christian really was a Christian - there would be very little room for legal crimes, homosexuality, divorce, lawsuits, etc. in this country - not from legalism and religion like how this nation ran in former decades, but out of a pure love for Jesus and by His power and freedom to stand up to injustice boldly, from the Law of God written on our hearts. Non-believers and those who live contrary to God's Word would be put in the position where they would honestly repent and come to Christ, or in their rebellion be compelled to leave. Sadly however, not everyone claiming to be a Christian in America really is.

Each believer is responsible for their own spiritual walk, but church leaders are perpetuating the spoiling and ruining of the natural growth that the church as a whole and the members individually ought to be doing. Church leaders continue to teach the church members things that are sound to human wisdom, comfortable to human flesh, and based in human tradition with only a hint of challenge because it is easier than to go against hundreds and hundreds of years of corruption and suddenly just go back to what the Bible says. Sheep follow their shepherds... even unto missing the mark, and what a tragedy for both.

As it stands, each and every church member is not growing or functioning properly in their relationship with Christ - some have not identified their spiritual gifts and place of ministry within the body, or opt not too, some are new converts who are not being fed properly, some keep their spiritual lives for Sunday mornings and go about their own agendas and priorities every other day of the week, some are still struggling under bondage that the church fails to help them with, some (and I think most) are not being prepared for service to the church, or taught how to love and serve their own families, or how to be a witness to the world around them. Discipleship is not one on one mentoring and teaching as it is meant to be, but group general education one or two hours a week. We are soldiers in a spiritual war and the majority of us aren't taught to put on our spiritual armor, aren't trained to fight and live victoriously, and aren't supported by leaders who supply "medics", strategies, and inside information that they should be going directly to God for to get for everyone else. We are left defeated, wounded, or working with the enemy, barely hanging on just to survive... we are still children being tossed around on the waves and not on solid ground.

I say - let's make a call to all believers to put aside their flesh, their agendas, their personal goals, and seek God for all He is. Let us dust off our Bibles and read, study, learn about Him and His will and seek to obey Him out of a heart-filled love and appreciation for His atoning sacrifice to save us and His continual faithfulness to love, provide and protect us. Let us tear down our idols, tear down our false beliefs and unforgiveness, and let us tear down our man-made churches so that we can rebuild them on the foundation of Christ Jesus and His Word. Let us seek to put on the Holy Spirit as anointing and walk in the power and love that Jesus did as we learn to do in our own communities what Jesus did in His while He was on the earth. Let us find no one in our neighborhoods that hasn't come face to face with an opportunity to accept Christ as Lord. Let us be the contact to the Source of healing and deliverance that the world comes for help. Let us love one another and relearn God's Word in unity of faith. Let each one of us, every man, woman, and child who are in the kingdom of God, live by the Spirit and empty ourselves to be filled and used to further God's kingdom on the earth. Let us grow up, and put the ways of selfishness and fluff behind us. Let us submit to one another and to the Lord so that He can transform us into a pure, spotless Bride. Jesus doesn't want a child Bride - He desires a fully mature, strong, and beautiful Bride, who chooses Him and adores Him over everyone and everything else, who's passion is His passion, a whole Bride that is unified and One with Him. Let's get to work! Let's prepare ourselves for the Groom!