If you love Christ you'll love his Bride

I didn't used to love the church. In fact I had no place for it in my life. But the funny thing is, if you would have asked me back then whether I loved Jesus, I would have said yes. Russell Moore correctly describes that as "irrational" in this hard-hitting piece written mainly for college students, but applicable to all of us who claim the name Christian.

The Scriptures reveal to us what we would never discern on our own. The church--not an ideal congregation but the real one you go to every week, with the lady who smacks her gum and the man with the pitiful comb-over hair and the 1970s-era audio system and the kids banging Tonka trucks on the back of the pew in front of you--is flesh and bones of Jesus. It is His Body, he tells us--inseparable from Him as your heart and lungs and kidneys and fingers are from you (Eph 5:29-30; 1 Cor 12:12-31).

Saying "I love Jesus" but hating the church is as irrational as saying to your best friend, "I like you--I just can't stand being around you." Your attitude toward the church tells you--simply--your attitude toward Jesus.

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