Eph 5:29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, even as Christ also the church, (30) Because we are members of His Body.
To cherish is to nurture with tender love and foster with tender care. This is the way Christ cares for the church as His Body. To cherish something is to care for it deeply and tenderly. It is to soften it through tender warmth. For example, a mother bird softens baby birds with the warmth of her body as she holds them under her wings. Under her embrace, the little birds are warmed tenderly. The heat from the loving embrace of the mother's body softens and warms the cold little birds. The warmth conveyed through such cherishing does not burn others; it soothes them tenderly and even melts their hearts. This is exactly what the Lord does to us in the church. Although we love the Lord, sometimes in our experience we become "cold birds." We may not rebel against the Lord, but we may become cold. At these times, the Lord embraces us, spreading His wings over us in order to warm us up. By the warmth of His embrace He softens the "cold birds" and melts our hard hearts. This is the Lord's tender love for His Body....Whenever we are in an atmosphere of cherishing, we can absorb every word of the ministry [nourishing] . This indicates that under the cherishing we receive nourishing. A church that is nourished and cherished in such a way will be strong and healthy. (c) Living Stream Ministry.
Bible verses are taken from the Recovery Version of the Bible and Words of Ministry from Witness Lee, Life-study of Ephesians, pp. 443,451. Both are published by Living Stream Ministry, Anaheim, CA. Please visit us at www.emanna.com. Send comments to: [email protected].
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