Apr 12 - Ephesians 5:31-32

Paul wrote:

“A man will leave

his father and mother

and be joined to his wife,

and the two will become one flesh.”

This is a great mystery,

and I am applying it to Christ

and the church.

Ephesians 5:31-32

Two becoming one is my favorite Biblical image for marriage.

It’s no longer, “Me first, then you.” It’s us. We’re a team … or at least we’re supposed to be. Sin and trials and stress constantly get in the way of unity and partnership. But this is God’s ideal. Unity is God’s plan.

Paul takes this picture of marriage – that ideal relationship of partnership, love, and support – and applies it to the church. He’s saying, we should be one with Christ, like the ideal wife is with her honorable husband.

That image worked well in the first century. The Roman citizens in Asia Minor, Greece, and Turkey didn’t know the church was supposed to be. So Paul said, think of it as a good marriage! It’s … relationship … partnership … love … and support.

I’m convinced that too many Americans don’t know what the church is supposed to be. Some flock to entertainment. Some gather where there’s a lot of convenience and little commitment. Some go out of habit. Others go through the motions. Others change churches every few years like some people trade spouses.

Furthermore, marriage as a picture of health has utterly broken down in a culture of divorce, abuse, pornography, busyness, and stress. It’s hard to point at many marriages and say, “Look, that’s what the church should be!”

We’re confused.

And so the church limps.

But think of a marriage that really does work. Then say, what would make our church more like that. Chances are, some of the secret involves commitment. Ask yourself what you can do to make our good church more and more like the ideal God designs.

In Christ’s Love,

a guy who joyfully knows

the picture of marriage

I’m striving for for our church!