16 December, 2015

Jesus + Messy

   Why is it that when a person surrenders their life to Jesus, we no longer expect messy? We expect them to act like an appropriate christian should, cleaning up any mess in their lives and for crying out loud, stay clean. Except that it doesn't always work like that. New christians are like babies, messy and unpredictable. I know, i used to be one. I accused a friend of harboring the devil under her cabinet because she hid alcohol for her brother so he wouldn't drink at bars and kill himself driving home. She hung up the phone weeping while i wondered how it was possible to be so blind. I also told people that unless they changed their ways they were on a fast track to the bad place. All good points but said in a very messy way. Which brings me to another thought. Why do i expect my older children to act like mature believers when not only are the young christians, they are still YOUNG??

   And why is it that we don't expect serving Jesus to be messy? Who did Jesus say He came to save? The nice, clean, church going crowd? Or the prostitutes, the liars, the thieves, the broken? I find myself hiding from the messy people because i might get, look, or act in a way that other people think is messy and ridiculous.

   I grew up in a conservative mennonite culture that had a lot of good points. Good work ethics, high moral integrity, scrupulous obedience to scripture......but messy wasn't appreciated. Our lives were to be lived in an orderly fashion, dotted along the way with handing out tracts and turning the other cheek. The only problem was, people from the "outside" sometimes strayed into our circles that were quite messy and eventually, they usually strayed back out. We comforted ourselves by saying only a few can manage the straight and narrow, but now i wonder if perhaps it was more because we couldn't handle getting messy. They were expected to act, think, and dress a certain way and when it didn't happen, we blamed it on their messiness and not so much on our lack of grace and compassion. Don't get me wrong. There were many wonderful, godly, loving people in my growing up years. This is not a lash out at my church group growing up but as Marlin and i have grown spiritually over the years, we have noticed that the more sold out a person is for Jesus, the more it seems He leads them to reach the unloved and unlovable. In short, He expects them to get their hands dirty.

    For example, we have friends who have a family of six children. Young children. You would think they have a quiver full, at least for the moment. Altho i wouldn't take my word for it since it seems our own quiver keeps expanding. But instead, this family is praying about adopting a little boy from China. A little boy who was abandoned outside a factory, most likely because he had hydrocephaly. As we sat and talked recently, i was totally challenged and excited to hear their hearts and why they are seriously praying about this. They're not naive, and they know it could be very, very hard. In short, she put it exactly right when she said it will be messy. And it was then that a light bulb came off in my head.

   It's messy that Jesus is so often wanting us to serve and it's messy that so many times i run from. Messy is hard and puts us outside our comfort zone. Messy might make us look bad, or maybe stupid, which is almost as embarrassing. Messy can be very expensive and it certainly doesn't guarantee a comfortable life or a fat bank account.

   Not everyone is going to be called to adoption. As of now we haven't. Maybe because it feels like we have all the messiness i can handle right now within our four walls. On the other hand, its not for me to say no to messy if it's Jesus calling us. I can point out a few times in our lives when we obeyed Jesus and it became VERY messy, and as long as we stay surrendered (completely!) i have no doubt there is more of that in our future.

   But whatever you do, don't embrace messy unless you have embraced Jesus first. Trying to serve messy without Jesus in control is disaster and will bring heartache and bitterness. You will need His strength, His wisdom, and especially His love and compassion. But whatever you do, don't try to keep your hands from getting messy. Get out there, tell Jesus you're willing to do whatever, however as long as He is in control, and prepare for the ride. Wherever Jesus is, there's bound to be messy because that's who He came to save and who else to serve them but those of us who have seen our own messiness without Him.

14 comments:

  1. So much truth. And it's so easy to make "projects" out of people instead of loving them and coming along side them mess and all....

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    1. You are so right about it being easier to make projects out of people instead of loving and walking with them.

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  2. My thoughts have run along these lines much the past few years as we've walked thru the messiness of life. Hmmm. Must be we are about the same age, huh?? :-)

    Surrender! It is key! Because without it, we add to the messiness in our need to keep things 'under control'.

    Blessings, my friend.
    Marcia

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    1. Amen about the surrender! And being the same age. ;)

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  3. It is in those "messy" times, around the "messy" people (including myself), dealing with "messy" situations that we have the only opportunity to become more like Jesus. We cannot experience the fruits of the spirit without messes. Thanks for this post, Darla! If you are even in PA, we'd love to have you visit. We live at the same place. :)

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    1. Hi Brenda! Your family is an inspiration to me regarding being around messy without judgement.
      We would love to visit again!! Not sure when we'll be in your area again but we will certainly need to look you guys up.

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  4. May I offer a different take on this? In the last several years there have been many books coming out and blog posts being written about MESSY Christians and for the most part it concerns me.
    "I believe there is some good and some bad in our seeing the Christian life as “messy.” The difference is *why* we are calling the Christian life messy."
    You see people LOVE their Messiness.
    People want to STAY in their Messiness.
    Christ came to REDEEM us, which is an on-going experience. He wants to change our messiness into something good. His Word is a High Standard to obey and live up to.
    Yes, God offers grace to our messiness but He is always waiting and hoping that we don't stay there. And we need to offer grace to all believers, much better when the Holy Spirit changes a person than us trying to change them.
    Many want God's grace for their messiness but they do not want to be changed by Him.

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  5. Good points Jane, altho somehow i've been out of the loop and didn't realize that "messy" is the new cool. So much for being original. :)
    I wasn't trying to say that people should feel the license to stay in messy. No, no, no. As we allow the Holy Spirit to work in our lives, He begins that painful job of cleaning us up. However, what i WAS trying to make clear is that serving Jesus will often lead us to serve Him in messy situations. I know of, or am involved in, some very messy situations even as we speak. Do they want freedom? Yes and no. Sometimes the price is just too high but does that mean that i wipe my hands and walk away because i don't want to deal with them and their messiness? Quite frankly i don't have the answers in how all that is worked out in practical life. I do know this. If more people were willing to get off their comfortable backsides and start showing Jesus in other ways than their nice, clean, quiet little lives, i believe we would see more people longing to be set free from their own messes.
    And if i must be honest, sometimes i still make messy myself. I have to humble myself and apologize without defense (ouch!) because no matter how redeemed i am, i'm still human and a bit messy.

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    1. I love your "originalness" :) Yes, I knew your heart in this messyness business! You posted this at a time when I was pondering the other side of messyness if you could say that. I've seen too often too that people are rejected because of their messyness and that is not right. Just yesterday an older pastor said in his message that more and more he tells people I can't help you and I don't have much advice BUT my Jesus has answers, draw close to Him, get to know His heart and He will help you to change...love that!

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  6. so good. hope you don't mind I shared it on facebook and I think another person or two did also. Thank you for your example. So wish I could see you all again? Feeling up to a trip :)?

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  7. Feel free Janice. :) I would love to sit and chat! A trip to Kenya? What fun....

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  8. Hi, friend! Funny that you should post this a month ago, but I only see it now! That part about older children really hit home for me... except it applies to all my children. Me always wanting them to act "just so" so I am comfortable. Surrendering my control has not been easy and "messy" has been let out (of me AND the kids), but it just goes to show that underneath all the control I enforced over the kids (and myself!), they were messy underneath and afraid to let it out... afraid of being imperfect... afraid of screwing up...
    I'm glad to finally KNOW that I KNOW that I KNOW that God LOVES me beyond all measure. That He loved me when I was floundering, that He loved me when I was pretending I was perfect, and that He loves me now that I know I'm NOT perfect as I try to live by His Light & Life within me.
    I want my children, my friends, my family to know that they know that they know that they are loved...

    Thank you for always having and honest, encouraging word! (or 2 or 3 *grin*)

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  9. A very good post and something I needed right now. I never really thought of messiness like that, but it is so true.

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