4 words till Christmas... messy...

Messy... with 4 days till Christmas...
I can relate to this word...

Things half done... is the theme of the day...
and... Christmas... it's just messy...

Beginning with messy relationships...

Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way.

When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together

she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And her husband Joseph,

being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly.

Matthew 1:18-19 ESV

The joy of an approaching wedding...

to the mess of an unexpected pregnancy...

and a quiet divorce...

When was the last time you heard of a quiet divorce...?

Can you even imagine what this unexpected Babe did to the relationships between Mary and her parents...? neighbors...? friends...?

Messy...

And a birth in a barn... messy...

it's messy enough in a clean hospital delivery room...

but a barn...?!

And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths

and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

Luke 2:7 ESV

The groan of labor pains...

the lowing of a cow... the braying of an ass...

The breaking of water... the flowing of blood...

the excrement of donkeys... and calves... and goats...

Messy...

But life has been messy since the Fall in the garden...

we try to clean up the mess ourselves...

pursuing perfection... happiness... peace...

in the next best thing... in what the world has to offer...

leaving more messes in our wake...

But like preparations for Christmas...

things often get messier... before they get better...

Jesus's life was messy... because of the Fall...

persecuted because He hung out with those whose lives looked like a mess...

prostitutes...

tax collectors...

lepers...

and the like...

The proper perfect religious leaders didn't get it...

didn't understand the mess...

or embrace their own very messy hearts...

Jesus's life began messy... (just like all of us...)

with the flow of water... and blood...

and it ended the same...

crucified on a cross...

alongside two thieves...

Since it was the day of Preparation, and so that the bodies would not remain

on the cross on the Sabbath... the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken

and that they be taken away. So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first,

and of the other who had been crucified with him. But when they came to Jesus

and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. But one of the soldiers

pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water.

John 19:31-34 ESV

The Jews in preparation of the Sabbath...

wanted nothing messy hanging around...

so they requested the legs of the crucified be broken...

You see... crucifixion is a slow excruciating death... which could take days...

From exhaustion... the executed can no longer lift himself up on his nail-pierced feet... in order to breathe air into his lungs... ultimately... suffocation claims his life... 

To break the legs... was to hurry the death... eliminating the ability to breath...

But Jesus had already finished His time on the cross...

claimed it Himself... and committed His Spirit to His Father...

After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture),

"I thirst."... When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, "It is finished,"

and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

John 19:28, 30 ESV

He came down to get messy with us...

so He could make the way for us to clean up...

find the perfect we long for... pursue...

He alone makes the Way...

for us to overcome the messy...

Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes

that Jesus is the Son of God? This is he who came by water and blood -- 

Jesus Christ; not by the water only but by the water and the blood.

1 John 5:5-6 ESV

So if you find yourself in the middle of a mess this Christmas...

messy relationships...

messy lives...

messy rooms...

remember... He is right in the middle of the mess with you...

waiting to clean it all up...

Messy... an Advent word...

a word of life...

a word of Christmas...

Praise Him for embracing messy...

so we might get cleaned up...

where's the grace...?

I left church this week... saddened...
wondering... Where's the grace...?

A totally unexpected exhibition of gracelessness...
one often seen in and about in the world...
but when it happens within the church...
well... it stunned...
made me want to flee...

Still wrestling with the image of weeds among the wheat...
I long to pray... Weed out Your church...?
and then I remember... maybe that's not His prayer...

The church is a funny place...
not in a humorous way... but an odd way...

A group of broken people...
trying not to act broken...
some apparently clueless about their brokenness...

I started a book this week... where I read...

God does not work apart from sinful and flawed (forgiven, to be sure) men and women who are mostly without credentials.

---Eugene Peterson. Practice Resurrection

And I'm reminded... this is the medium in which God works...
the broken... the messy... the clueless...

So I pray for light... revelation of His grace...
receptive spirits... hearts... willing to accept conviction...
willing to repent...
willing to become fountains... sieves... of grace...

Father God... I'm so grateful for Your grace...

open the hearts of Your people... to receive Your grace...

share Your grace... so You may receive thanks and glory...

We know that God, who raised the Lord Jesus,

will also raise us with Jesus and present us to himself

together with you. All of this is for your benefit.

And as God's grace reaches more and more people,

there will be great thanksgiving and God will receive

more and more glory.

2 Corinthians 4:14-15 NLT

more on messes...

Thoughts about my messy corner where He meets me continue...

I think about other areas of my life...
areas where I've grown in order...
less messes in many places...

I think about the mess in my corner...
it's a place I would love to be orderly and beautiful...
a place with no clutter... clean... pristine...

I even think about starting over...
in a new area...
a space dedicated to Him...
(not that his one isn't... it just doesn't look like my flesh thinks it should look...)

And I realize...
this place... messy... cluttered... out of control...
might just be... exactly the way He wants it...

It just might be a reminder of my messes...
my need for Him...
how much I am NOT in control...

Yes... I think messy is where He wants me to be...
when I seek Him...
a humble hovel... of need...

And me? I'm a mess. I'm nothing and have nothing:

make something of me. You can do it; you've got what it takes...

Psalm 40:17 Msg

I praise You Lord... the Cleanser of the messes I make...

He comes in the midst of messes...

On the radio today... I heard the testimony of  a woman who made a mess of her life... a mess she wanted to run from... die because of... and right in the middle of her mess He comes... The Cleanser of the mess I've made...

Her story caused me to think back on words written yesterday... overwhelmed by Him... in the middle of a mess I'd made...

Truth beams from her story...
and from my corner...
He comes in the midst of messes...

He does not show up because we have it all together...
He does not show up because we are perfect...
He shows up where it's messy...

He comes to those who are poor and needy...
He comes to those who embrace their mess...
He comes to those who cry out for help...

He comes in the midst of messes...

And the scribes of the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating

with sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples,

"Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?"

And when Jesus heard, he said to them, "Those who are well

have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 

I came not to call the righteous, but sinners."

Mark 2:16-17 ESV

You don't need to have it all together...

you just need to know you've made a mess of things...

you need to know... you need His help...

And then... He comes... no matter the mess...

struggling... with the mess...

The mess made yesterday... leaning on my own understanding... continues to weigh...

Grace... hard to receive... when you don't feel deserving...

And the question comes...

How does God feel about me... when I make a mess of things...? leaning on my own understanding...? trusting me...?

People from Scripture come to mind...

David... he leaned on his own understanding... staying home from war... shirking his duties...

Maybe he thought... I deserve a rest...

In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle,

David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel. ...

But David remained in Jerusalem.

2Samuel 11:1 ESV

This decision... led to the mess with Bathsheba...

Adultery... cover-up... murder...

Yet... in the New Testament... God still refers to David as... a man after My heart...

Samson... here's a man... who lived by his own understanding... at least when it came to women...

He chased... and married... all the wrong ones... foreigners... but God used his flaws... He knew who Samson was...

But his father and mother said to [Samson],

"Is there not a woman among the daughters of your relatives,

or among all our people, that you must take a wife

from the uncircumcised Philistines?"

But Samson said to his father, "Get her for me,

for she is right in my eyes."

His father and mother did not know that it was from the Lord,

for he was seeking an opportunity against the Philistines.

At that time the Philistines ruled over Israel.

Judges 14:3-4 ESV

The results of Samson choosing women... right in his eyes... led to a big mess...

Loss of strength... eyes gouged out... imprisonment...

Yet... when Samson prayed... for strength one last time... He answered...

And when He wrote a history of the faithful... in the book of Hebrews... He included Samson...

And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets --- who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions...

Hebrews 11:32-33 ESV

Then... Hosea... the prophet who married the prostitute... at God's command...

When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea,

"Go take to yourself a wife of whoredom

and have children of whoredom, 

for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord."

Hosea 1:2 ESV

Talk about a people who made a mess...

The Isrealites... rescued from slavery in Egypt... led by God across the desert... for 40 years... (the trip so long... because of the messes they made...)

Finally... brought into the Promised Land... God fulfilled every promise made to them... 

And they... turned away... leaning on their own understanding...

In those days there was no king in Israel.

Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

Judges 17:6 ESV

Israel rejected God as King... and forgot the law... and His ways...

They made a big mess of things...

Oppression... famines... captivity...

Yet... God used Hosea... to reveal His great love... for the Israelites...

And the Lord said to [Hosea], "Go again, love a woman

who is loved by another man and is an adulteress,

even as the Lord loves the children of Israel,

though they turn to other gods and love cakes of raisins."

Hosea 3:1 ESV

He knew we were a mess from the beginning...

He knew He would need to rescue...

He knew He would send His Son... 

He came to clean up a mess... He didn't make... all because of love...

So... how does God feel about me...? when I make a mess...? leaning on my own understanding...?

He loves me...

And He loves you... too...

Consider the last time you made a mess... because you trusted yourself... leaned on your own understanding...

Did you beat yourself up for a week...?

Did you harden your heart with pride...? saying... It doesn't matter...?

Or... Did you receive His grace...? His love...? and rest in the mess...? as you did the best you could to clean it up...? and learn from your mistake...?

No matter what mess His people make... He loves them...

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son,

that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world,

but in order that the world might be saved through him. ..."

John 3:16-17 ESV

Lord... You and I both know...

I've made much bigger messes in my life... than the one yesterday... 

Yet each mess leaves me tempted to wallow... in condemnation... 

Thank You... for this lesson... Thank You for Your love... 

Bless me with the ability... to fully receive... Your grace... and love... 

Bless me with faith... to trust You... and not me...