Last week we had our 3rd Annual Messy Event for youth ministry. It was a blast. I always love this event but this year the kids honestly took it messier and funnier and crazier than before. Who knew that washable paint could be so much fun?
We talked briefly during the event about how our lives get messy. Sometimes we are not happy with our lives and see ourselves as stained. Sometimes, it is the people around us who have 'dumped' on us. Their words or actions leave us covered in filth and slime that we cannot see ourselves getting clear of. It is hard to wash off these things away.
And we are stained. We are sinners. There is not question. We are sinners. We have done things in our past that darken our lives. We do things that hurt others or ourselves. And we will continue doing these things as long as we walk on this planet. Our lives are a mess.
But as believers in a loving God, we are also blessed to with a great gift: salvation. God came down and walked amongst us. He shared in our temptations and saw how we wrestle daily with our sin. And he chose to do an amazing thing: wipe it all away. He gave us this gift of grace that says 'YOU ARE FORGIVEN FOR ALL OF IT!" From his perspective, all we have done, do and will ever do that is against his will is already gone. He has set us free from it. Made the mess disappear. FOREVER.
We just have to let it go. We have to be the ones who let our messes go. To stop clinging to our messy lives. To stop dwelling in the pain and filth and turn instead to how God see us: His wonderfully made children. If we look at ourselves through God's eyes, we begin to see lives unshackled by the squalor and pain. We have hope. We have truth and we have REAL living.
We talked briefly during the event about how our lives get messy. Sometimes we are not happy with our lives and see ourselves as stained. Sometimes, it is the people around us who have 'dumped' on us. Their words or actions leave us covered in filth and slime that we cannot see ourselves getting clear of. It is hard to wash off these things away.
And we are stained. We are sinners. There is not question. We are sinners. We have done things in our past that darken our lives. We do things that hurt others or ourselves. And we will continue doing these things as long as we walk on this planet. Our lives are a mess.
But as believers in a loving God, we are also blessed to with a great gift: salvation. God came down and walked amongst us. He shared in our temptations and saw how we wrestle daily with our sin. And he chose to do an amazing thing: wipe it all away. He gave us this gift of grace that says 'YOU ARE FORGIVEN FOR ALL OF IT!" From his perspective, all we have done, do and will ever do that is against his will is already gone. He has set us free from it. Made the mess disappear. FOREVER.
We just have to let it go. We have to be the ones who let our messes go. To stop clinging to our messy lives. To stop dwelling in the pain and filth and turn instead to how God see us: His wonderfully made children. If we look at ourselves through God's eyes, we begin to see lives unshackled by the squalor and pain. We have hope. We have truth and we have REAL living.