He Loves the Mess

This week I was commiserating with another parent the reality that life with kids means the house is always a mess. Especially when they are young, kids can be like little tornadoes wherever they go, leaving messes everywhere for us to clean up. No matter how much we try to teach the importance of cleaning up after ourselves, the impulses to dump the bins of toys on the floor and run off to do something else are sometimes just too strong. No matter how much we try to keep things in order, it seems to always be a mess. But the truth is, as much of a pain it is to have to clean up the messes, I wouldn't have it any other way. The mess reminds me of the gift of having children who are so active.

That reminds me of what the church is like. We are often a complete mess. The reality is we are fallen people. Redeemed by Jesus, yes. But we are still works in progress in our sanctification nonetheless. We don't always see eye to eye. We struggle in our relationships with each other. We fumble in our efforts to be faithful disciples. We say the wrong things, we do the wrong things, we jump to conclusions, we assume the worst of each other and are too quick to judge. Our personal lives might feel like a mess and we may wrongly assume others are judging us. We lack trust in each other and sometimes it's even a struggle to show up because we don't always feel like dealing with the mess. I imagine it would be easy for God to grow weary of constantly having to deal with our mess. Like Mr. Incredible from The Incredibles saying in an interview, "No matter how many times you save the world it always manages to get in jeopardy again. Sometimes I just want it to stay saved for a little bit. I feel like the maid, 'I just cleaned up this mess. Can't we just keep it clean for ten minutes??'"

Yet with all our mess, God loves His church. Despite our flaws and mistakes, He is fiercely protective of His church. He gave his own Son to save his people and gather his church. He sacrificed for her. She belongs to him. While we know God does not tolerate sin, I wonder if God sees the mess we're in and still rejoices because his children are with him. In time, God will continue to sanctify us. But he still loves us today because the church is the precious bride of Christ.

Listen to what Paul says about Christ and the church in Ephesians 5:25-26. The context is instructions for husbands about how to treat their wives, but it's based on what Christ does for us.

"…Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless."

The church might be a mess. We might be a mess. But Jesus loves us anyways. Through his sacrifice, he has made us holy and will finish his work in his time.