Max Lucado's 'Ephesians'

Last night was the first day of my sister (Mary)'s bible study at her home. We began with an 'ice breaker' announcing who we were and what we hoped to get out of these bible study group. We had a nice time getting to know one another and though it was a brief first session we were each given a Life Lessons Book written by Max Lucado entitled 'Ephesians'.

'Ephesians' seems to be a great first book; it states on the back cover that Paul reminds us that Jesus longs for the day He will be united with the church-his bride in all her beauty. Paul shows us how to walk worthy of Christ as we live our life for God and through salvation we become a pat of God's family, a place where we can experience true belonging.

My sister began in prayer, an ice breaker, and then asked for a volunteer to read the Introduction to Max Lucado's book. If states:

(I paraphrased it, but you'll get the drift.)

"Is there anything more elegant than a wedding? Candles, family, dear friends filling the pews. Ahhh, the glory of a wedding. And though the groom is present, the main star for the day is the bride. For the bride upstages the groom. The groom was fine as he stayed composed at the alter, but when he saw his bride he wept. The main message was of a beautiful wedding and that Jesus died for not only our sins but to one day be a the groomsman and take his bride; the church. The letter of Ephesians celebrates the beauty of the church-the Bride of Christ. From our perspective the church isn't always pretty. We see backbiting, squabbling and division. Heaven sees this is well, but much more. Heaven sees the church as cleansed and made holy by Christ. Heaven see the church ascending to heaven. Heaven sees the Bride wearing the spotless gown of Jesus Christ, which He longs for.

It's enough to make one weep."

I sure wish I were able to write as well as Lucado, but that's not the point here.

The book study sounds amazing and I look forward to doing all the lessons to make myself whole and pure for being His bride (in unison with the church) for the future time He comes to collect those of us. And I thought I was impatient about meeting the man of my dreams! Jesus has had to wait how long???

After all was said and done my sister said something that was very intense and overwhelming. She said in closing before she prayed "The more you are in Christ, the less insecure you are. In the same way, the less you spend with Him, the more insecure you are which shows you are still in the 'world'." I heard one woman ask her to repeat that, and I too found myself writing it down. What a powerful statement to end the night with, not to mention typing this out and printing to put on a self-made bookmark. We all, at some time or another, struggle with insecurity, so why not let Christ remove this from us by?