Two people can look at exactly the same thing yet see something totally different. For example, two people look at a house. One sees the cracked walls, the broken windows, the worn stairs and the leaky plumbing. According to his evaluation, the house is a wreck and worth very little. The other person sees the efficient layout of the house, the elegant proportions of the rooms and the spacious closets. In his estimation, it is a valuable property.
What makes the difference in the two evaluations? One person sees the current run-down condition. The other person, while not blind to the problems, sees potential. One sees the house as it is, the other sees what the house could become.
Our evaluation of the church is often like that of the person who only sees all of the problems in the house. We see that the church is full of flawed people. We see people who say they follow Christ, yet do not always exhibit the character of Christ in the way they live. We see church leaders who rule rather than serve. Even worse, we may have a negative view of the church because we have been hurt by it. We have suffered harm by the very people who should have shown us the most love.
However, God’s view of the church is very different. He loves it. The Bible uses the metaphor of a bride adorned for her husband to describe it (Revelation 21:2). Where we see flaws, God sees beauty. Where we see imperfection, God sees loveliness.
Why the difference in perspective? It is because we see and concentrate on the present faults, whereas God sees the church as it will one day be.
God not only sees the church as it will one day be, He see the potential in every one who makes up the church. He is actively changing those in the church to become like Christ. He is in the process of giving us a new nature. When that process is complete, the church will also be what it ought to be.
Speaking of the church, the Apostle Paul writes that Christ, “…gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.” (Ephesians 5:25-27 NIV)
The real question is not whether we have flaws, faults and imperfections but whether we are allowing God to change us into the perfect, spotless, pure and holy bride of Christ.