When I think of messes, I think of toddlers learning to eat on their own. All the food goes everywhere except their mouths. I think of someone cooking in the kitchen who doesn’t “clean as they go” and the amount of pots, pans, utensils, bowls around when they are done their creation. I think of me when I am done painting a room. There is paint everywhere from my head to my toes.
I think of people. People are messy. People say things, not nice things, which leave a lasting impact on others. Hearts are hurt and damage is done. People do things that make you shake your head and wonder “What were they thinking?” People are messy.
Hearts are messy. My heart is messy. One minute I am filled with anger at something and the next I am feeling compassion. Our hearts can be stubborn and want their own way and then in the next minute letting go of the stubborn and relinquishing control. If I dig down into the motives of why I do things, I see that my motives are not always Christ-like. Sometimes, they are genuinely filled with love. Other times, not so much. Hearts are messy.
One thing that is never messy is God. Now, I know from experience that following God is often messy. This is because when we follow him it involves people and our hearts…which are messy. But God himself is not messy. We know who He is and what He is about.
We know that God loves us. In spite of who I can be at times (not pretty), He loves me. Truly, give his own heart on a cross for me, loves me. He would move worlds if He thought it would be for my good. What he wants more than anything is to spend time with me and talk.
God also loves every single person on this planet. Every person. No matter how good or how bad they are. They are loved equally, unconditionally, giving his own heart on a cross for them.
What does God want from me? He wants me to love like that. When someone does something that makes me shake my head and want to put distance between us, I go to God and say “What do you want?” And He says “Love them.” My messy heart does not want to do this. I am comfortable with the distance. But if I want to be like Jesus, if I want to be like love, then I need to do it.
The other cliché we hear all the time is “What would Jesus do?” I’d like to rephrase that and have us ask “What would love do?” In our world of hurt, and there is a lot of it, we need to take a step toward love by reacting and reaching with love.