a beautiful mess

The longer Ryan and I are involved in ministry and doing life with other people, the more we are reminded that people are messy. Life is messy.

My life is messy.

Grace covers our self-inflicted messes. And love covers a multitude of sins (1 Peter 4:8).

How grateful I am for a loving Father who makes beautiful things out of my mess. And even more, He allows me to walk alongside others as He crafts masterpieces out of their messes too. Galatians chapter 6 paints a beautiful picture of our responsibility to one another as members of the body of Christ.

“Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. . . So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.”
– Galatians 6:1-3, 10

We’re called to restore. We’re called to shoulder the burden. We’re called to do good. God will handle the consequences, repair the heart, forgive the sinner, and restore the soul. But we have a part to play in this mess.

It’s a sad indictment of the church that many who find themselves in a mess fear the church is the last place they can turn. We’ve met too many messes with condemnation, ridicule, gossip, and hate, instead of gentleness and good as seen in the passage above.

A friend recently reminded me of these wise words:

“Where no oxen are, the manger is clean, but much revenue comes by the strength of the ox.”
– Proverbs 14:4

Where there is life and fruit and growth, there will be messes. Clean, neat, tidy lives come from hollow souls who aren’t really living. I’m not saying that Christians should be flinging messes right and left. But our maturity in Christ comes with its fair share of messes and growing pains and stumbles and failures.

There was a mess in Abraham’s adulterous rendezvous with Hagar. There was a mess in David’s rooftop proposal to Bathsheba. There was a mess in the belly of a great fish. There was a mess by a charcoal fire as a rooster crowed thrice. But in each story, there was greater grace and redemption beyond the mess. And there have been messes along my journey…and probably a few more in my future.

But it’s one of the beautiful things about community. My favorite part of Galatians 6 is the word “opportunity” in verse 10. In the Greek, this is the word “kairos,” and its meaning will blow you away. The word implies not the convenience of the season, but the necessity of the task at hand, whether the time provides a good, convenient opportunity or not.

Read those words again. Slowly.

The word implies not the convenience of the season, but the necessity of the task at hand, whether the time provides a good, convenient opportunity or not.

The truth of the matter is that other people’s messes are usually not convenient for us. They interrupt our schedules, get in the way of our plans, and disrupt our routines. They require more of us than we’re often willing to give.

But Paul instructed us “as we have opportunity,” knowing it wouldn’t be convenient. Or easy. Or fun. But it’s necessary. And’s it’s costly. It’s the embodiment of love and grace. It’s a picture of God in flesh.

So slow down. Make eye contact. Listen. Become involved in someone else’s mess. And find yourself caught up in a beautiful, thrilling display of the creative, redemptive abilities of our God.