Overcoming Mess

Whoever claimed that being a Christian was simple, care-free, and comfortable was not a Christian; or at least didn't live out their faith upon the surrounding culture. In twenty-eight years of being a Christian, I have found each year's spiritual journey to have increasingly difficult terrain. In fact, it can get downright treacherous and messy.

I have two kids, Baleigh (4) and Elijah (1), who God has brought into my life to remind me that messiness and clutter are built into humanity's DNA. So much of my time at home can feel like I am constantly walking behind them and picking up their latest mess or teaching them to clean up their clutter. Sometimes when I look into their playroom or into the backseat of the car it looks like the Cheerios factory threw-up or Wal-mart just had a twister move through the toy department.

The mess can drive me crazy. I am a guy who believes everything has a place and we should all take the time to put it back where it belongs. When there is no mess, I am most happy. Since that doesn't always happen, I am left to stomp around, my wife says "pout", and clean up their mess. After all, how can they have maximum enjoyment in life with all the clutter surrounding them?

What is amazing to me is maximum enjoyment is what Baleigh and Elijah know how to do. In the midst of the mess, they put on a musical. In this midst of the clutter, Baleigh puts on a concert while Elijah conducts.

I believe that in the Christian community we have often missed out on the joy God can bring even in the midst of life's clutter. The Christian life is going to be messy. After all, why else would Jesus pray for our protection (John 17) and relate that sending the Christians into the culture is like sending sheep out among wolves (Matthew 10). The church can have a tendency to become so consumed at making an unchurched world look like them, that they miss out on the joy people are experiencing through discovering what it means for them to look like God. All too often the church can push people to be conformed into the image of the church instead of the image of Jesus Christ.

I have come to believe that living a life that follows hard after the claims of Christ can be very messy at times. I have see this in the drugee that has broke free from the habits of their past while seeking to spiritually influence those who got them hooked. I have seen this in the dad who gives his life to Christ only to be sent to prison because of unwise decisions made in his past. I literally could write dozens of accounts.

The church can quickly be like me as a dad, walking behind people and cleaning up their clutter. Not because we don't like how God is working in their life, but because we like everyone to be nice and tidy so that we can be happy.

Humm, isn't it interesting that I was the one concerned with my kids mess while my kids still found joy? Isn't it interesting that we are often more concerned if someone else's life is nice and tidy so that we can be happy without considering if God is happy or without observing the miles the new Christian has traveled in their new found faith.

Maybe the person that needs to overcome the mess is not my children or the formerly unchurched. Maybe it is me as a dad and us as a church.

Just a thought,
Brian

{sidenote: do i want people to overcome their struggles with sin? Yes. But our goal must be for their faith to be authentic and not artificial; for people to live for God's pleasure and not our satisfaction.}