Life is Messy

The reality of life is that it’s messy and that’s what makes it beautiful.

It feels like I am constantly cleaning up messes.  The messes of daily life like dishes, laundry, and house cleaning keep me busy (and I don’t even have kids).  Even without technically making a “mess” there are continual messes.  Then it multiplies when you add in dropping the jar that breaks all over the floor, the crack in your windshield, or the appliance that stops working.  That still doesn’t count the real messes of our lives like the relationship that is broken, the finances that aren’t making ends meet, and the obstacle you just can’t seem to overcome.  Life is full of messes big and small.  So often we see the messes as an inconvenience.  We define it as dirty or difficult.  What if we could embrace the mess?  What if we saw the mess as a part of the journey of life?  Somehow we expect life to be clean and see the messes as getting in the way of the life that we want when in fact messes make you more you.  We are human.  We are messy.  And it’s a beautiful mess.  

“God went for the jugular when he sent his own Son. He didn't deal with the problem as something remote and unimportant. In his Son, Jesus, he personally took on the human condition, entered the disordered mess of struggling humanity in order to set it right once and for all. The law code, weakened as it always was by fractured human nature, could never have done that. “

Romans 8:3, Message

Very few stories throughout the Bible come without any messes involved. It is full of stories of pain, sorrow, loss, evil, enemies, lies, disobedience and more. Yet somehow the message we get is that we aren’t supposed to be messy.  Unfortunately the reality is that life is messy.  All throughout history we see this to be the case.  This is why we are in such desperate need of Jesus.  Here is Romans Paul is looking at the messy human condition that the laws and the rules were never made to fix, but rather they reveal how messy we really are in our humanity. Rather than staying far away from our mess Jesus entered into it so that He could set it right and set us right.  While, we still live in a messy world, we have the hope that one day it won’t feel quite so messy.  We have the peace that Jesus sits with us in our mess and loves us right there in the midst of it.  We have the truth that we have been made whole while we are still walking in brokenness.  We have Jesus who enters our mess and makes it beautiful.  

Hear more about how much He loves you in this mix...

How He Loves-David Crowder (w Matt Chandler John Piper)

by Dennis Lazau

More about Sheep

“While correction is never fun sometimes it’s the best kind of love.”

I continue to see how much I am like a sheep.  They are easily cast down and thrown off putting them in much danger.  While you can’t completely prevent this from happening one reason sheep are prone to this situation is an excess of wool.  The sheep however, do not like the process of being sheared, even though they find relief from the hot heavy coat that is often clogged with manure, mud, burrs and ticks.  We are so much like sheep.  We too don’t like the process of things being sheared from our lives.  It’s not until looking back, until we see all we’ve been carrying from the place of being free that we find we are glad for the shears.  So although the refining is painful, the freedom is worth it.  

“A refusal to correct is a refusal to love; love your children by disciplining them.”

Proverbs 13:24 MSG

We have a good good Father.  Sometimes we are like the sheep being sheared unable to see His goodness.  We don’t like the shearing and thus conclude that He isn’t good.  Like the sheep who can’t see all that has gotten in its wool neither can we see all that is keeping us from freedom.  Thus, we must trust our Good Shepherd and know that it is always in love that He brings out the shears.  Our Good Father is always for us and always with us, even when it’s impossible to see through the pain.  While not everything painful is His disciplining, He still remains a good Father in everything painful.  So whatever process you find yourself in with the Lord you can always go back to knowing that He is your Good Good Father who does everything, yes everything, truly everything in love.  

Adapted from A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23, Phillip Keller

For a little more on our “Good Good Father” check out this song by Housefires…

Good Good Father by HOUSEFIRES II with Lyrics

Cast Down

It’s not whether or not we will be cast down or even why we’ve been cast down, instead the question is will we find a way to see hope until we find it.

Downcast is that feeling of low spirits in loss of hope or courage (wiktionary).  It’s that place where we feel cast down; where our hope has been cast down.  I’ve been learning how we are like sheep.  When sheep have been cast down it means they have been turned on their backs and are unable to get back up on their own.  Furthermore, if the owner does not arrive in time to set it upright the sheep will die within days.  Now I don’t know the thoughts of a sheep but I’ve learned they battle much fear and can easily become frantic when lying cast down.  Yet, it is this panic that makes things worse for the sheep and for us.  So you see, we are like sheep.  We like the sheep are easily cast down.  We like sheep are in need of help.  We like sheep make things worse the further we delve into panic mode.  So whatever has you cast down, feeling like your legs are in the air unable to get up, remember there is hope.  

"Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God."

Psalm 43:5

The thing about following God is that we have a Good Shepherd.  A good shepherd is always on the look out for cast down sheep.  They are constantly attentive to the condition of the flock and thus ready to pull any one of their sheep back to it’s feet.  This is our God.  So while it may seem helpless we too must remember to whom we belong.  This is what the psalmist is doing, he is remembering his God who brings hope and saving.  This is not a condemning question of why are you cast down but an invitation to remember that even though you may find yourself cast down you have a Good Shepherd who is always on the lookout for his sheep.  He sees you and will be faithful to you.  Keep your eyes always on Him, our hope and our help who has His eyes always on you.  

Adapted from A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23, Phillip Keller