I am the Body of Christ, at least a small portion of it. I’m not really sure which part I am in a metaphorical sense; I could be a toenail, or maybe an armpit; I mean, somebody has to be those things. I suppose I could even be an eyelash, an earlobe, a nose hair, a molar, a kidney or some other unseen part. As followers of Jesus we make up his Body.

I/we, am/are also Jesus’ Bride. I’ve been reminded of that during this Holy Week. More so than any other time of the year the spirit world is elevated for both good and evil. I’ve seen the evil; I’ve read the headlines on CNN; murders, suicides, war, greed and hurting people. I’ve tasted the good; Jesus himself. Scripture tells us to “taste and see that the Lord is good.” (Psalm 34:8)

Over the past twenty-four hours I’ve been thinking about us as the Bride of Christ. We are the Bride in the sense that one day we will be united with the Lord Jesus– that day is coming.

For too long I think I’ve had the wrong focus as being part of the Bride of Jesus. Rather than helping the Bride become more beautiful I’ve simply looked at the Bride and pointed out things like warts and moles and blemishes and scars. It’s true, some times the warts, moles, blemishes and scars have to be tended to if a body is to be as presentable as possible.

In thinking about the bride, I’ve wondered if I were the groom what I would want in my bride. I remember the days leading up to my marriage to my wife; we talked about her wedding dress and a few other things, but as the groom it wasn’t the dress that I was mainly interested in. I wanted a bride that possessed inner qualities not external perfection.

I can’t help but think that’s what Jesus, as the Groom, wants of his Bride too. Far too often though, we put a lot of time, energy and resources into external perfection. I think it’s something like this; in preparing as the Bride we want our dress to be as beautiful as possible—that thing that everybody sees first. When all heads turn toward the aisle as the bride enters, the primary thing everybody sees is the dress.

If that could be translated to the Body/Bride of Christ, I think that would be the church; not the people who comprise the church but the structure itself, as in a building. We work extremely hard at making sure first impressions of external perfection are the best they can be. As such the physical structure gets lots of attention.

Then there’s the shoes; the shoes have to be just right because they carry the bride, and wherever she goes the shoes, the things that get her there, have to look as good as the dress. If that could be translated to the Body/Bride of Christ, I think that would be the ministries of the church.

On Sunday morning the church doesn’t move without ministries; worship ministries, children’s ministries, hospitality ministries, student ministries, production ministries and the rest. I think the perception is that the Bride can’t go anywhere without the shoes—I mean, who wants to look at the Bride’s feet sticking out from underneath the beautiful dress.

Of course then there’s the veil. The veil is used to obscure the face of the bride until the groom lifts it to see the bride in all her beauty.

If that could be translated to the Body/Bride of Christ, I think that would be the attire of the church—we wear certain clothes that are appropriate for church. However, often those clothes obscure who and what we really are. We look great when it comes to external perfection, but inwardly there are things we don’t want anybody to see or to know about.

And, what bride wouldn’t fuss over her nails, make up and hair? If that could be translated to the Body/Bride of Christ, I think that would be all the things we feel compelled to do thinking that it will make us look alluring. We desire to have our nails look perfect—trimmed, filed and painted; so we make sure our worship team is talented, trained and led in the best possible way. We make sure our hospitality tables are stocked with plenty of coffee, donuts and other refreshments.

Every hair has to be in place so we make sure the climate is controlled perfectly, not too much air conditioning in the summer and not too much heat in the winter. We set the mood with perfect lighting and ambience so that our make up is just right—beautiful.

I don’t really want to focus on the warts, moles, blemishes and scars; I want to focus on the true beauty of the Bride—what’s on the inside.

How disappointed I would have been to discover my own bride was thoroughly beautiful in external perfection on our wedding day; then in the ensuing days discovered that she was hideous on the inside. I discover that she’d put on enough external stuff to seem beautiful, but all it did was conceal what wasn’t beautiful.

The inner beauty of the Bride consists of a heart that is solely in love with the Groom; every action and every thought directed toward what will please the Groom. Warts, moles, blemishes and scars really need very little attention; the Groom knows about them already.

The dress, the shoes, the veil, the nails, the make up and the hair don’t really mean much if there isn’t a parallel beauty on the inside.

As the Body/Bride I want to help us cultivate inner beauty; our Groom doesn’t need us devoting all our energy to polishing our nails, applying make up, having our hair done perfectly; what the Groom needs is our hearts prepared for Him, that He will be our heart’s desire, our longing, our Love. On that Great Wedding Night we’ll stand bare before Him, as we are, with nothing but what’s on the inside.