How messy is too messy?
This is the question I’ve been meditating on for the past few days. At what point in time do I let my fear of failure or my inadequacies hold me back from allowing God to use me to play a part in restoring this broken but beautiful world?
If I were to stand in front of an audience and ask people to honestly raise a hand if they’d ever backed down from reaching out to the hurting and broken, the vast majority would join me in lifting our hands. But here’s the good thing; although we’re not always good at this, our God is. The very first time sin enters this world, the first thing God does is step towards the sinners. In Genesis 3:8-literally the next verse following Adam and Eve directly disobeying His ONE rule-God comes walking through the garden, calling out to those He loves.
Here’s what Jonathan Parker said that smacked me across the face: You are the biggest limitation to what God wants to do in your life. I am the biggest limitation. I become scared. Looking at the brokenness in front of me, I oftentimes become so fixated on the sin of the situation that I sometimes forget the people trapped in it are image bearers just like me. But with His strength, I can live in my true identity as a child of God and reach out to those around me. And that’s the beautiful thing. It’s not about me at all. It’s about the other people around me and it’s about my God. It’s all about His glory and His plan for ultimate restoration. If my perfect God was willing to come to earth as a baby boy and live among messy, broken, hurting, sinful people for 30+ years and then die on a cross for the exact people who sentenced Him to death, He’s answered my question for me already. Nothing is too messy for Him. And when we live in the identity He’s given us, nothing is too messy for us either. So my next question is this: What part of the messiness am I going to move toward? How am I going to get messy?
How are you going to get messy?
-Amara Sherman (OneLife Lancaster student)
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