Some condemn Christians saying: “Christians are misers, usurers, drunkards, gluttons, envious and spiteful to each other.” Indeed there are some like this but the description does not fit all Christians. If you want to describe the present-day Church, do it as Scripture does: “As a lily among thorns, so is my beloved among women” (Song of Songs 2:2). Someone hears about the Church and weighs the matter. The lily is attractive, so they enter. They stay close to the lily and tolerate the thorns. Some enter believing that all members are good, especially those with religious or clerical vocations. Others revile these supposedly “holy souls” for being far from perfect. Both those who only praise and those who only criticize are wrong. Those who praise must admit that there are some bad people among church members; those who criticize must not ignore the many who are good.

–Commentary on Psalm 99.12

Notice the great grace Augustine displays here, grace combined with a healthy dose of reality. Things haven’t changed much in the Church since Augustine’s day but its enemies seem to be more vociferous and angry today. Augustine’s advice can help us keep a healthy perspective on both the praises and criticisms of the Church. Christians are “cracked vessels” too and it is a great testimony to the transformative power of the Spirit that some many of them really do reflect the Lord they proclaim to follow.