Bridesmaid Duty

Over the year’s I have gotten to be a pretty good bridesmaid if I do say so myself. I mean I have had a good bit of practice.
Being a bridesmaid is alwaysan honor, but it comes with responsibility - from throwing showers, to buying bridesmaid dresses, to what only can be explained as “bridesmaid duty.”
I am now an expert at buckling the straps of brides and bridesmaids shoes. I am a quite capable dress holder as the bride uses her royal throne. I am also decent at zipping, tucking, powdering, fanning and steaming.
I know, I know….the talents I posses are pretty phenomenal!
All through scripture, OT and NT, The Church {capital C meaning the global body of believers} is referred to as the bride of Christ.
I am a girl so of course I love this image. I love the image of Christ, the Prince Charming of the world, dashing in on his white horse donkey and saving the one He loves, whisking her away after defeating the evil enemy and living with her forever in His palace.
A bride is beautiful, glowing, radiant, and breathtakingly beautiful. Her bridesmaids do everything they can to make sure of this. If the florist doesn’t show up or the tablecloths are the wrong shade of pink they protect the bride from this news and make sure she stays calm, stress free, and beautiful to all who gaze upon her. It is also a rule of thumb that NO ONE speaks ill of the bride on her day! She, after all, is the bride!
If The Church is the bride of Christ, than you my Christian friend, are her bridesmaid. We are meant to shield her, protect her, speak well of her, and position ourselves in a posture that is ready to support her in any way possible that she may be the very best of herself on the big day.
{I am sure many of you are all shaking your head in agreement up to this point, but now I may step on some stilettos. I am very sorry that I am not sorry.}
So if we are the bridesmaids of the bride of Christ why are we tearing her down with our words? I am almost in tears as I write this because my heart is breaking for my Prince Charming’s bride.
We claim to love Christ yet attack his bride with our words and with our Facebook rants and repost of articles. We tear her beautiful white dress as we talk about pastors within the bride that do preach messages as we believe they should preach them or have bigger churches than make us comfortable. We stomp on her the brides beautiful white shoes as we criticize how others do church when it is contrary to the way we believe it should be done. We throw mud on her face as we talk about her other bridesmaids and how dare they be a Christians and still doing A, B, C and D. How dare those bridesmaids not be perfect! {Let's be honest if people saw even a highlight reel of our truest, deepest, and darkest thoughts we would all be painfully embarrassed.}
My sweet friend, I beg of you - stop throwing dirt on the bride.
We have a massive mission, to evangelize the world before the second coming of our King. We also have a real enemy that is willing to do anything to deter the plan of our King. We don’t need enemies within The Church we have plenty outside of it.
My plea to you is that the next time you have the urge to speak a negative word about His bride, post a nasty article about another church or pastor, think of the light you are shining on the bride. Our job as bridesmaids is to make her attractive to those not in the bridal party, to the unbeliever. No one want’s to be at a wedding where the people at the wedding can’t even get along. Yet, everyone longs to be at one of the weddings where the bridal party forms a dance circle and everyone takes turns letting each other shine.
Let’s be the bridesmaids that gloat about her saying “just wait until you see her, she will take your breath away.” The bridesmaids that cannot wipe the massive smile off our faces when we see her. Bridesmaids that count the huge honor it is to be her bridesmaid and serve her even after we have hurt her so many times.
Let's never forget the Bride we are representing and the Groom we are serving as we do.