Griping about Church

I don't hear much (as in hardly any) griping from our people.  Let me start with that disclaimer so that none of you think I'm thinking specifically about you.

Imagine that you are a husband and someone is griping about your wife.  She's too bossy.  She's demanding.  She's hypocritical.  She's out of touch with reality.  She's financially irresponsible.  She's a bad mom.  She's a workaholic.  She's snobby.  She's cliquish.  She's irrelevant to the world around her. She's incapable of answering basic questions.  She's old-fashioned.  She's a fad-hound.

String 4 or 5 of those together.  If you're a husband, your blood she about ready to boil even simply imagining someone talking about your wife.  Mine is, and I'm the author of this blog post!

Imagine how you'd feel if some or all of those things were actually said about your beloved.  Is your chest getting hot?  Face getting red?

Now put an eternal exponent on that and you'll have a sense of how Jesus feels about someone talking about His Bride, the Church, for whom He shed His blood.

It's not that you can't be critical.  As a pastor, I'm the first to admit our imperfection and first to appreciate a solid critique.

But it is Someone's wife you're talking about.  And that should shape everything you say.

But that's just me thinking thoughts...