His bride

A good church friend took Sofie to ride horses for a bit on Tuesday, and she told me they had stopped to visit one of her friends on the way home.

She told me her friend used to be in church, but that something was said in some meeting long ago, and after that day she never went to church again. "Every time I see her, though, she tells me she's gonna get back to church one day."

I never realized how many people this is true of until I became a pastor's wife and people started telling me... and until I started seeing it for myself. 

There are a LOT of hold-ups, hang-ups, disappointments, traumas, excuses, reasons and pains keeping people out of church. I know people right now who have left the church over the music. Over the preaching. Over the people. Over a Sunday school class. Over a change. Over a person. Over covid and never went back. Over life circumstances making it hard. Over a marriage. Over a child. 

There ARE a lotta good reasons, especially since church is made up of people, and people gonna mess it up. I don't think it's often that someone leaves thinking they are out completely.  They're gonna go back. Go somewhere else. Just...not yet. Or it's complicated.  Or they don't know where to go. Or they are waiting for something. Or it's just easier. 

And I get all that. Better now than I ever have.

But I know

Jesus had a hundred good reasons not to leave that golden throne and join US. A dozen not to head to Jerusalem on that donkey, the signs all written.  At least six reasons not to head to the cross. A thousand reasons not to make himself among us. Billions of us not worthy to work with or come alongside

There are a million reasons not to be the church, not to work with church people, not to go. There are a million reasons to go a little but not really, or to quit altogether.

Everybody got a reason not to be in church. I have reasons now I never had before, pastor-wifing on the sometimes ugly inside.  We all have our reasons not to be the church. 

But it's His Bride. 

It's the Bride of Christ. 

Praise the Lord He laid down all His better reasons for us.  

The church isn't about it's people, it's worship, it's preaching, it's perfection or it's broken places. It's about HIM. And I don't have ANY reasons good enough to keep me from doing what He asks, for His reasons and for His glory (and I'm betting for my good, too.) After ALL the reasons He laid down for me, surely I can lay down my hang-up.

Give Him your reasons, let Him have them, and get to church. All the way in there, all in. 

So all in that you hurt when it hurts. 

Just like Jesus did.