Living the life God intended

In the Bible many times, the church is compared to a woman. Why? I believe that it is the only analogy that God can come up with that describes His love and His care and protection of the church. We all seem to think that the church is the building we go to on a Sunday to worship God and hear His message to us. But that is not the church – you and I are -we are the living epistles that people in our world read. So how much does God love His church – you and I and all those others that attend.

For the answer to this, let’s look in Ezekiel chapter 16 starting in verse 3. This story is talking about how God birthed the nation of Israel but we are looking at it from the church side. Verse 3 tells us where we came from. The Amorite is from the Jews and the Hittite is from the Gentiles. This woman (church) is composed of every person that wants to be associated there.

Verses 4 and 5- on the day the woman was born, she was rejected and cast out. She was not cared for and pampered and made to feel welcome. This is like all of us before we were saved. We were rejected and cast out. Satan was out to kill, steal and destroy everything he could from our lives. We were literally abandoned to our own devices and left alone.

Verse 6- Jesus saw us in that pitiful state and commanded us to live. Jesus came so that we could have life and life more abundantly. We were struggling but He saved us.

Verse 7- we started to thrive, to know more about Jesus. We grew up in the Word of God. As we grew strong, so did the church around us. We were not fully mature but we were on our way.

Verse 8- we were now mature -we had grown up. God covered us and made us His. We had now given our hearts and lives to Jesus fully. He made a covenant with us – a covenant based on love not fear. A covenant where we could be strong in Him as He already took our sins and weaknesses on the cross.

Verse 9- we were then water baptised and made a public declaration. No longer were we abandoned, we were loved. No longer were we out in the fields, we were in the house that God built.

Verses 10 to 14- the woman in our story was now made whole. She was clothed, she was fed and she prospered. This is God’s beautiful heart for you and I – His Church. The woman’s fame went out everywhere. That is how the church ought to be known about – a place that takes the lost, introduces them to Jesus and assists them in becoming whole in every area of their lives.

The woman in our story is the church and is a beautiful illustration of what God has done for me. But it is not my story alone – it can be your story too. Jesus doesn’t reject anyone -He has come to set you free. You might have seen yourself somewhere in those verses but that is a place you don’t have to stay. Just say yes to Jesus. You can do it! You will then live the abundant life Jesus came to give you. Bless you heaps and start and keep living the life God intended for you!