A friend and I are doing a study in Ephesians 5:22-33. We are on verse 27 which says “That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.”
Part of this article comes from the study of this Scripture, but some of it comes from something that recently happened in my life. It was something that the devil tried to use to hurt me, but God has turned it into good. It is one of those things that He uses to break us and mature us, but also, if we will let it, it teaches us to trust in Him and not people.
Jesus is coming back for His church. We as individuals make up His church, so He is coming back for us. He is coming back for those without spot, wrinkle or blemish. He is coming back for a glorious church. Glorious; held in good or in great esteem, of high repute, illustrious, honourable, esteemed, notable, glorious, splendid, free from sins.
While studying this Scripture, it would be easy to give definitions and find corresponding Scriptures, but I wondered if Jesus was standing before me, knowing everything about me, what would He say to me. I think it would crush me. I wouldn’t be able to withstand the full truth. Most of us, if we were honest, could not stand under the weight of God’s assessment of us. We live in a fallen world where sin and evil abound. We are all human and every one of us fall short of His glory.
I was recently told that I had a lot of issues, a lot of things wrong with me. The way it was told to me was not in the love of God, but in a very harsh, judgmental, condemning way. The hardest part was it came from somebody that I considered to be a friend. Moving past how it was delivered to me, I asked God if the things that was told to me were true. As much as I didn’t want to admit it, they were true. As I cried out to God, He helped me to face those things as truth, but He didn’t condemn me or throw me aside. He taught me where those things came from and why they were present in my life, and also why He wanted me to face them and deal with them.
The abuse in my life altered who God intended for me to be. I kept saying I didn’t like who I had become, but I really had no understanding of the depth of that. The abuse from childhood did not give me a foundation on which to build my life. It was built on the lies of the devil and his works in the life of my parents and in me. There was no love. My heart became hardened. Hate, bitterness and jealousy took root in me. Because the abuse continued for so many years, I became swift to anger, had continual strife in my life and over the years, animosity towards God. I became a hearer of the Word but not a doer. I did not trust God, nor did I believe He cared about me or that He could help me. In order to endure the abuse, I became sly, sneaky, a liar. I also did not believe I had any worth or value.
I went to church for years and I was filled with His Spirit and His Word, but I didn’t believe His Word had any power to change or help me. To be honest, I really wanted the help, not necessarily to be changed. I based my idea of God off my earthly dad and husband. They abused me, used me and tore me down. They couldn’t be trusted, so how was I to trust a God I couldn’t see. The really sad part about all this, was not one pastor, preacher or “saint” of God was able to help me for all those years I went to church. I would say most were caught up in their own trials and troubles. To be honest, most modern churches are serving a powerless “god”, just like I did for a very long time.
Being abused as a baby and throughout my entire childhood, challenged my perception of reality. I became double-minded. It was easy to go from one belief to the opposite belief of something simply because I could not trust my reality. So where do I stand before Jesus today? I am not without spot, blemish or wrinkle. I still have to deal with the dregs of what I have been all these years. The thought of standing blameless one day before Jesus seems so far-fetched. Yet He is working on me, and I have a long way to go, but with God, nothing is impossible.
I believe God heard my cries for help, even though I didn’t believe or trust Him. God hears the cries of His people and because I said yes to Him, He responded. Psalm 18:6 “In my distress I called upon the LORD, and cried unto my God: he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, even into his ears.”
Romans 5:8 “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him”
God is faithful to Himself, even when we aren’t faithful to Him. 2 Timothy 2: 13 “If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot* deny himself.”
Ephesians 5:27 “That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.” That we should be holy… Leviticus 11:44 “For I am the LORD your God: ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy; for I am holy:…” Yes, I admit to all those things and probably many more that I have yet to deal with, but I am not alone. Jesus still died on the Cross for me. He still loves me. And as long as I continue to cry out to Him and allow Him to work in me, I still have hope.
Jesus has done a work in me that has taken many years. A lot of things have changed in me. Now I know without a shadow of a doubt that God loves me and that He is not like the earthly authority figures in my life. I believe His Word is true and I believe that I am His child. He has a plan for my life. I know that His power is far above that of the devil, and I want you to know it too. His Word says that He will turn what the devil meant for evil, to our good. I am not the same person I used to be. I am becoming who God meant for me to be. That doesn’t mean everybody will like me or want to be my friend, but I want more than anything to be like Him, like my Father in heaven. Don’t let the devil defeat you. No matter what you have gone through, your life can change. It doesn’t have to stay the same. Cry out to Jesus.
The God’s Honest Truth
