The Profound Mystery: How Christ's Love for His Church Should Shape Our Lives

There's something deeply reassuring about watching a bride walk down the aisle toward a groom whose face is lit up with unmistakable love. In those moments, any anxiety about the future seems to melt away. Why? Because when you see how much someone is loved, you stop worrying about whether they'll be okay.

This simple truth unlocks one of the most profound mysteries in all of Scripture: the relationship between Christ and His church.

A Love That Calls Us to Joyful Submission

The Apostle Paul's letter to the Ephesians contains what might be the most misunderstood passage in modern Christianity. When we read about submission—wives to husbands, believers to one another, the church to Christ—our cultural alarm bells start ringing. We've been trained to hear "submission" as a synonym for defeat, for losing, for being conquered.

But what if we've completely misunderstood what submission actually means?

Consider this: when Jesus was a young man, Scripture tells us He was "submissive" to His parents. And immediately after noting this submission, Luke adds that Jesus "increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man." His submission didn't diminish Him—it was the very pathway to His flourishing.

Submission, in the biblical sense, isn't about inferiority or superiority. It's not about being forced into something against your will. Rather, it's like choosing to sit down at a feast that has been specially prepared for you, rather than wandering into the woods to forage alone and likely starve in the name of maintaining your independence.

God has designed reality so that we can only truly grow and flourish when we're willing to submit to one another and receive from each other. This is true in marriage, true in the church community, and supremely true in our relationship with Christ.

Walking Carefully in Evil Days

The church in Ephesus was a mess. Divisions ran deep—social problems, demographic tensions, age conflicts, ethnic issues, and even heresy in their midst. Yet Paul loved them fiercely. "I do not cease to give thanks for you," he wrote, "always remembering you in my prayers."

You can love a church deeply even when it's full of problems and imperfections.

Paul's counsel to them was urgent: "Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil." This wasn't addressed to individuals alone but to the church as a whole. The community needed to think carefully, watch their steps, actively guard against the devil's schemes.

How do we do this? Paul's prescription is surprisingly practical: sing Scripture to each other, sing hymns, maintain joyful hearts, give thanks constantly, and—here's the key—submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.

Notice that submitting appears in the same list as singing, preaching, and rejoicing. It's not an add-on or an unfortunate duty. Submission is as much a part of the faithful Christian life as prayer and worship.

The Secret to Joyful Submission

Here's where Paul's argument becomes brilliant. When he addresses husbands, he doesn't say, "Make your wives submit." Instead, he says, "Love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her."

There's a profound principle at work here: a person's willingness to submit joyfully is in direct proportion to how much they believe in and feel the other person's love.

The most beautiful marriages aren't those where authority is constantly asserted, but where love is so evident, so tangible, that submission becomes almost intuitive—a natural response to being deeply cherished.

This same dynamic applies to our relationship with Christ and His church.

The Cross: Love in Its Purest Form

When God decided to take a bride for Himself, there was a costly problem to solve. God is holy, righteous, and pure. Sin cannot enter His presence without judgment. And we—the church—are nothing but sinners dressed in filthy rags, deserving only wrath.

But Jesus, our great Savior, loves us and gives Himself up for us.

At the cross, He takes our filthy garments—all our ugliness, blemishes, failures, and sins—and puts them on Himself. He dies the death we deserve under God's wrath, nailing all our guilt to the cross. Then He rises again and clothes us in His own pure, white, spotless robes, bringing us into God's presence forever.

"From heaven He came and sought her to be His holy bride; with His own blood He bought her, and for her life He died."

The cross is what love in its ultimate, purest form looks like. When you truly see the cross and feel its weight, it draws you into a willingness to trust that this God who loves like this will give us everything we need.

Nourished and Cherished

Paul continues with a striking image: "No one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of His body."

Jesus will no more forget to take care of His church than you can forget to feed yourself when you're hungry. He nourishes and cherishes His bride. And He does this primarily through His Word—washing, sanctifying, and cleansing her through Scripture.

This means that insofar as we feed on God's Word, drink deeply of Scripture, and submit ourselves to it, we will live and thrive. And if we don't, we won't. It's that simple and that serious.

Before sin ever entered the world, God set a picture in place: a son leaving his father to claim a bride. Marriage has always meant something far greater than itself.

Paul marvels at this: "This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church." The best human marriages are but a small glimpse into the true thing—the relationship between Christ and His church.

What Paul saw in shadow form in Genesis, the Apostle John saw in its ultimate fulfillment in Revelation: "Blessed are those invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb!"

So here's the question worth asking: Do you see and treat the church the way Jesus does?

Do you get joy from serving the bride of Christ? If not—or if that joy feels weak—go back and look at the cross. Meditate on how much Jesus loves His church. Let that love transform how you love His people.

When you truly grasp how much Christ loves His church, anxiety about the future fades. We don't have to worry. Look at how much He loves her. The church will be just fine.

And that changes everything about how we live, serve, and love today.