Different Things God is teaching Me

JESUS & HIS BRIDE

Two (of many) principles I am learning about Christ's relationship with the Church, His Bride:

First: You cannot love Christ (as the Husband) and hate His Church (as His wife).

I had to cut off a friendship recently with someone who thought he could love me as a brother and yet disrespect and dislike my wife, Elisabeth.
Just as I&Elisabeth are inseparable because we have been made one flesh, so much more is it the same with Jesus&theChurch. To befriend and accept one spouse requires you to accept, befriend the other.
If you hate the Church, you will also be hating Christ because He never hated His own Body but nourishes and cherishes it. (Ephesians 5:29)

Second: Jesus (as the Husband) is always pursuing the Church (as His spouse).

One of the many valuable premarital gems of wisdom that were given to me&Elisabeth when we were dating was the responsibility of the husband to not "end the dating" after marriage; the woman loves to be pursued and the husband must continue the pursuit, even when he has "found the one whom his soul loves".
It is even more so with Christ&HisChurch: Jesus is always in pursuit of His Bride, wooing her to Himself.

What a comfort that we are loved and beloved of God! He is not passive in His relationship with us (unlike the tendency it is for us husbands to be toward our wives) but passionate! We may take Him for granted yet it is not His heart's desire to give up on us! The more we realize He is in pursuit of us, in turn it will transform our lives to mirror His passion and love and return the full-fledged attention and pursuit we have received, back to Him!