Real love is messy.

So as a Christian and as a Pastor, I often come into contact with people at very hard times of their lives or when they are messed up in some way or another. Here are just a few of the problems of people with who I have dealt in the last few years:

• Abuse (both those who are doing the abuse and the abused children themselves). Physical and emotional.
• Affairs
• Neglected children (both those who are doing the neglect and the neglected children themselves)
• Divorce
• Property crime
• Chronic lying
• Many and varied psychological diagnoses from depression to bi-polar to schizophrenia.
• Addiction to substances of all types and sexual additions of various kinds.
• Eating disorders and cutting
• Homelessness
• Hunger
• Suicide
• Homicide

Beyond these "big" visible types of problems, almost everyone who comes to church is broken in some way or another, including me. Many people have learned to hide their brokenness, but as God deals with them it often comes out.

Furthermore, some of us in church are just plain weird. We might be extreme extroverts (like me) or we might be introverts. Some are on the autism scale, some have Down's syndrome, some like rock music, some like organ music, and some people like the Green Bay Packers.

My point is that if we are going to do ministry like Jesus and do the ministry of Jesus and become more like Him, then we are going to have to learn to love people broken, weird, messed up people. Furthermore, the more you minister to these oddballs, the more you realize that you are one of them! You see Jesus died not come to minister to the health, but the sick. He did not come to die for the good people, but the damned people. He did not come to have a party with those who were already his friends, rather he came to be killed by his enemies, so he could make his enemies his friends. 

Yes, he came to transform us, so that we can live more like him, in the way he created us, but we are all still in the process. If we are to see his kingdom grow we are going to still be reaching out and loving all kinds of different people.

This is hard!! I mean it is very hard! It is really messy.

Just today I saw a story of a man who intentionally ran a car into a group of people and got out and said "Thank you Jesus." Now this is not what Jesus wants any of us to do. We are not called to kill people in his name. We need to love and sacrifice for people, and be willing to die for them instead of kill them. On the other hand, it would not surprise me at all if this man actually had attended a church recently. Sometimes screwed up people are trying to get in touch with God, but they are still screwed up. Sometimes screwed up people lead churches and give people really bad and unChristian doctrine while in a church service. Both of these things were happening in the churches to whom Paul wrote, so why should it be different now.

Does this mean we should stop reaching out so that things are less messy? No, it means we need to get on our knees every day and pray for strength. Pray for transformation, so that Jesus will help clean up our mess. Pray that we will be able to love the unlovable with his unconditional love.

The gospel of Jesus Christ changes messy lives into abundant lives, but truly abundant lives overflow with the good news of the gospel into the lives of those around them. If you know Jesus, and if he is changing you, then you can and will love all the other messy people around you.

Learning from the Flood

Luke 12:31 - 32

But seek His kingdom, and these things will be provided for you. Don’t be afraid, little flock, because your Father delights to give you the kingdom.

Recently with all the flooding you may have seen many pictures and videos of all the destruction. Scenes of destroyed houses, roads and bridges washed away, dead livestock, burst grain bins, and fields full of debris are sad and can even lead to a sense of despair or hopelessness because the loss seems so overwhelming.

Rather than despair though, I want to encourage us to to use these hard moments to see what lessons God has for us.

The first lesson as you think about your personal losses or those of people who you know, is to take a moment and examine your own heart. While it is appropriate to feel sad over losing valuable things, if that sadness turns to despair and depression, it may well point to what you really consider valuable. Do you put your hope and trust in God or do you put your hope and trust in the things of this earth? If you lost everything, could you still have peace? What if Jesus asked you to give up everything? Could you do it? He did ask his disciples to do that, and if he is asking you to, could you ?  This may not mean you lose the use of things, but it might. Could you give away your house, your cars, your job, your electronics, your reputation, your everything if Jesus called you to do it? I have a friend going back to Cameroon, Africa and these are the very questions he is asking, because God has called him to a much more dangerous and much less prosperous place. Use this moment to consider if Jesus is really the most valuable thing in your heart.

Second, use this moment to look around you and be thankful for the blessings God has given you right now. One of the reasons that we sometimes get mad at God when He takes something away from us is that we have come to expect it rather than see the world and our very lives as a blessing from Him. Look at your family, your friends, your home, your food, the beauty of the earth, and rejoice in the abundance of God's goodness. Use this moment to thank God for the incredible blessings, both big and small. Start a list and write down one thankful item a day. Every single day you could find something for which to be thankful. If you do this, you will begin to praise the giver of the gifts and not just the gifts themselves.  God loves you and has already blessed you. Learn to praise Him on the sunny days and on the rainy days, in the days of drought, in the days of plenty, and in the days of flood. He is bigger than them all and any day with Him is better than any day with any other thing.

Psalm 84:10 Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere.