Housekeeping

Early in our married life my wife and I were terrible slobs (thankfully that is no longer the case.) We didn't really have the discipline to keep a tidy house and allowed our schedules (and laziness) to keep us from cleanliness. Eventually we would reach a mutual point of disgust (and lack of clean dishes) that would force us to stop pretending things were clean. We could no longer hide piles of newspapers under the couch or dirty clothes behind a closed laundry room door. Things had to be dealt with or the situation was never going to get any better.

I think we can do the same thing with the spiritual health of our life. We don't have the proper habits to keep things in order so they slide into disarray. While we might be uneasy about the state of things, we also realize we can hide it for a while if we're careful. Eventually, the mess will become more noticeable in our relationships, our attitude, and our overall health and we'll be forced to do something about it.

I don't want to pretend that spiritual health is supposed to be neat and orderly. In fact, I think it's the exact opposite. An authentic spiritual journey has rough edges, is far from perfect, and doesn't always flow smoothly according to everybody's expectations. The key to keeping things moving forward is to be free to call it for what it is as we keep working on it. Pretending that things are neat and clean because we are hiding the truth doesn't benefit anyone. Be willing to admit we are all messy while pursuing God's best in our lives. That's the quality of a genuine life headed in the right direction.

See the Mess

I shared a quote from Madeline Albright on my blog a few weeks ago where she had been quoted as saying, "The world is a mess." I think that might be fairly evident to some people, but what if we're in denial about the true state of things?

• Are we calling something clean when it's dirty?
• Are we calling something right when it's wrong?
• Are we calling something orderly when it's in chaos?
• Are we calling something good when it's clearly not?
• Are we calling something healthy when it's sick & dying?

We can't begin to fix things if we can't admit things are broken. Let's get a realistic assessment of the world we live in and then let's get to work providing the solution.

That's Messy

I heard a quote from Madeline Albright (former Secretary of State) today where she was asked for her assessment on the state of the world. She simply said, "The world is a mess."

I think she might find many people who agree with her. We could all find things that contribute to the messiness we find ourselves in. It could be an uneven political climate, dysfunctional family dynamics, ineffective churches, the lack of male role models, and disunity. I doubt that we would struggle to come up with influences for our current situation. Identifying problems won't be an issue.

The bigger question is what is our response going to be? Are we content just to recognize the mess or do we want to do something about it? We can bemoan the current state of affairs or we can decide to engage in a two-step solution;

Step 1: Talk to the Creator and The Solver of problems and seek His wisdom and healing
Step 2: Do what He asks us to do to be part of the solution

It's time to stop simply talking about messiness and work to clean it up. We need to either do something about the state of the world or shut up.

It Could Get Messy

Our lead pastor, Mike Waers, preached a hard & powerful message yesterday about the call for us to minister to our modern-day Samaria. This would be defined as people that we have a hard time reaching out to because of our own prejudices and biases. Our discrimination can be based on ethnicity, socioeconomic standards, or just a general dislike for people based on our own selfishness. Fulfilling this calling takes a change of heart in many ways and will most definitely make us uncomfortable.

If we are actually willing to fulfill God's call to the church we have to realize that things will start to look different than they do right now. As we wade into the middle of people's hurts and share the truth of Christ that will save them, it will prove to be a difficult and messy journey. It will stretch us as we ask God to increase our compassion and place a new heart within us that does not judge based on our weak prejudices. This will be a church that is actively engaged in reaching all of the community and not just people who are similar in appearance and experience.

It brings to mind an image of sitting around a table filled with diversity as we share with the King in worship, repentance, recovery, and healing. This will certainly change the way church looks, but I would wager that it would finally start to be the church that God has envisioned all along.