First for this entry, when I say church, I mean the people, not the building.  Jesus wasn't interested in the building.  He gave many of his parables out in open places; possibly His most important sermon, the Sermon on the Mount was not in a building.  He would go to the home of sinners, and he healed the paralytic in someone's home.  He didn't need a specific building for teaching or miracles.  Buildings just aren't important -- it's the people who are important.

I've been told many times that Jesus is the bridegroom and the church is His bride.  I just accepted it and never thought much about it.  But think about it, Jesus is the bridegroom, and we, the church, are his bride.  That means He has pursued us and is continuing to pursue.  He whispers sweet nothings in our ears.  He's totally in love with us and wants to spend eternity with us.  He said, "I do" and faithfully keeps His vows.  He stays by us in sickness and health, for richer or poor, but the thing is... we are not parted at death.  We said, "I do" when we were baptized, yet how well do we keep these vows?  Most keep close to him in sickness and when poor, but when healthy and rich, they are perfectly self-sufficient.  How much would it hurt a husband if his wife only paid attention to Him when she was sick and needed money?

We're at the wedding reception.  We, the church, are the bride.  We go around saying, "Look at my dress; look at my ring.  I put so much work into getting this wedding together.  Do you like the colors?  How about the flowers?  Isn't this just perfect?  Didn't I do wonderfully?"  We are completely focusing on ourselves.  We talk to the guests, but our new husband is nowhere to be seen, and we don't even notice.  We are so focused on ourselves and having others focus on us, that we allow no one to talk to our new husband.  Our new husband is in the corner, hurting silently.  He's suffered silentely many times before, always for us.  He is Jesus.  This is like many churches.  They focus so much on the projects they're doing or the committees they're on, that they forget that their love, Jesus, should come first.  As His bride, we should be leading Him around introducing Him to anyone who doesn't already know Him.  We can trust in His character to cause any guests who don't know Him to fall in love with Him.  Flowers, dresses, rings, they're nice extras, but the bride and bridegroom are what matter.  And people tend to back away from from a bride who only concentrates on herself.  They view her as selfish and don't want much to do with her.  If she won't even pay attention to the love of her life, who wants to be friends with her?

Don't be that way.  Love Jesus first, everything else will follow.  Concentrate on Him, and you won't be concerned with how that project turns out because you'll know that no matter what, you have His love, and that's all that matters.  And people will see a bride who is totally in love with her husband and know the marriage is the best thing that could have happened.  And they'll see the devotion she has toward her new husband, and know she's a great friend to have.

Always remember: Jesus first.