Love Letter to the Church

Beloved Church,

As a minister of the Gospel I feel compelled to write a love letter to you, the Bride of Christ. I am also a part of the Church so I take these words to heart.

Know that you are loved. Christ paid so much to have you set free. I can’t even begin to comprehend the price that was paid for you and now you are free. You don’t have to be a slave to sin and death any longer. Christ waits for you because you are his chosen bride. That is powerful and amazing. I wanted you to hear this just in case you have forgotten who you are to Him and what He has done for you. You are loved with a greater love than any of us can understand.

However, we’ve been far from a perfect bride. While we wait for Him we’ve become a bit of a bridezilla. We fight with each other, we point out all our flaws, and we complain about all the things. I’m a bit worried because we have winked at our own sin and pushed people away by yelling about their sin.

Christ wanted so much more for us when he paid that great price. He had hoped that we would become more like Him. In fact, He said to the Father, “make them one even as You and I are one.” We shouldn’t spend so much time bickering. We aren’t really living in unity when we do that.

He also declared that he came into this world not to condemn, but to save. Once he called one of us who was waiting to be stoned because she was adulterous. He saved her and told her “neither do I condemn you, go and sin no more.” The truth is, we all fall into that category. I know I was in a place where I deserved death when He saved me too. He lifted me up and made me a part of the Church, His beloved Bride. How amazing it is that we were delivered from sin and death.

Some of us have become quite zealous because of that deliverance. We have railed against sin because of all the pain it cost us. I hope you understand, Christ already defeated the sin you hate so much. He delivered us from it. It hurts to see others who have not been delivered, but we need to help them come to Christ because He is the one who can set them free. Use your zeal to share the Good News. We are free from sin and death. He did it all and he will do it for anyone who would dare to believe.

On the other hand there are those who wink at their sin. It breaks Christ’s heart because He set you free from that slavery. Why do you keep going back to it? Don’t you understand that he wants a pure, spotless bride? Yes, we were a mess when He saved us. We were dirty and impure, but then He cleaned us up. We were pure and spotless after He set us free. When we go back to the sin we were delivered from, we become stained once again. It doesn’t matter if you are “more clean” than someone else, it’s not good enough for the one who set us free.

I know He will clean us up again, but don’t you love Him? Yes, I get it, when He cleans us we feel so good, but we don’t have to go back and get dirty to have that feeling again. We feel good because He is there with us and when we come together in unity, He is there.

Unity is the thing I want to write about most. It’s so hard to write this love letter to you and tell you that you aren’t perfect. I want to only say good things to you because you are his beloved bride. I would be pretty angry if someone wrote a demeaning letter to my wife. On the other hand, if she were taking voice lessons again and her instructor gave her advice on how to sing I would welcome it, as long as the advice were kind and loving. My wife has a beautiful voice but an expert voice teach could probably help her sing even better.

That is what Jesus was saying to the churches in his love letters from the Revelation. He said, “Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent.” He spoke in love for His Bride.

I’m speaking in love for her too. I hate when I see “open letters to the church” that do nothing but put down and beat up the church. I know we aren’t perfect.

We are loved

This is a love letter, not a dear john, not an ultimatum. It is expressing love for the church. As broken and messed up as we’ve become, actually considering the stories in the New Testament always have been, we are still loved.

Because of that love let’s strive to do better.