What She's Doing Well

For sometime now, it's been on my heart to ask Abba what the church is doing right. When I first got back to the US, that's what I did. I asked God, "What's she doing well?"

The reason? It seemed like so much of what I was hearing and reading was focused on how bad off the church was. How immature she was. How so far off target she was...

Knowing that I personally tend to not respond well when I am in the "there's nothing positive about me" rut I decided to apply that to the church. Hence, the question "What's she doing well?" The following is the response I heard from Holy Spirit:

"She loves me."

"Oh, how she loves me."
"She may not know how to do things the way I want them or even be able to (know how) follow my directions...
... but, she loves me."

"Like a little toddler loves his or her parents...
... she loves me."

"That's what she is doing well."

The association to the reply that I have is very much something I could connect with. You see, for the better part of the last 10 years I have spent myself invested in teaching children. And one of the many lessons that came out of that was how much little ones wanted to follow directions and "get it right" but how so many times, they fell far short of the objective. This, often was due to developing motor skills or comprehension. Other times, it was due to a thing simply being so new that there was no grid for the request and no matter how much the desire was set in tiny hearts to do as asked, they simply couldn't and  needed instead to be shown with patience and encouragement how to complete a task.

It was with this picture in my mind that Abba spoke His words, "She loves me. That's what she is doing well."

The point being, He knows we're not "there" yet. He knows, we fall so far short of out goal and the desires in our hearts to follow directions. He knows what we don't know. He knows what we can and can't quite do yet. And while being obedient to the things He's called us to, He is full of knowing that with out His loving and patient guidance, we'll never arrive in that place.

So what does He do? Instead of judging or criticizing His bride for her multitude of failures and shortcomings, He delights in the one thing which is perhaps, most essential to moving the Father's heart. He is glad, that she desires to do well but even more overjoyed that she, His beloved one knows enough to simply love Him with all of her heart.

May we continue to look at the Bride of Christ with these eyes. Not with judgement or harsh words about how badly she's messing up but with eyes that see the heart of the matter. That she loves Him in the midst of her myriad imperfections.

To borrow Abba's words, "Oh how she loves me."
Wow. Does it get any better than that?

"You have ravished my heart, My sister, my bride; You have ravished my heart with one look of your eyes, with one link of your necklace."
Song of Solomon 4.9

Blessings,
jg.