A New Beginning, Devotionals, Doubt, Faith, Hope, Uncategorized

How Messy is Your Life?

Join our telegram channel

How Messy is Your Life?

Mess scares us.
Many of us want to fix it, or at least try to neaten it up so the curious eyes of those around don’t make us feel uneasy. Somehow, we have been taught to package our lives into neat parcels and showcase the good sides and not the bad sides.

Look at posts on social media and you see it.

But deep down, we know that our lives aren’t as nicely packaged and pristine as we want them to look to the outsider.

The good news

Here’s the good news: God sees your mess and He loves you. He is not going anywhere but staying by your side, wanting to journey with you through the mess. He is a faithful God who makes good on His promises.

God sees your mess and He loves you.

About a year ago, I was baking with my daughter. Holding an egg in her hand, she was ready to crack it into the bowl. But with one knock on the bowl, her little hands squished the egg towards herself. So, instead of the egg dropping into the bowl, we saw runny, gooey egg white and yolk all over her top, flowing down the tabletop, trickling down the cabinet, and racing to the floor.

Oh my gosh. That was my first thought.
“Sorry Mummy,” she whispered quickly, half expecting me to be upset.

It doesn’t sound very funny with the description of the mess, but honestly, the way the egg cracked, and my reaction coupled with hers, made me burst out laughing.

“It’s okay, Sweetpea. These things happen. We are baking and you’re learning. Let’s clean up and try again,” I enveloped her in a bear hug and assured her.

Clean-up was not the most fun, but before I knew it, we were back on track baking what we had set out to, and the next egg she cracked went into the bowl perfectly.

This story reminds me of how sometimes we fear that the mess we make is too great. We beat ourselves up and we sulk, dwelling on thoughts that tell us we are not good enough.

But wait. Remember that God sees you as so much more important than the mess. He wants to clean up the mess with us if we would let Him.

Sure, our mess may be a lot more than just gooey egg on the table and floor, but think about how much bigger God is as well. He can take the load of our mess, no matter how big it is. The question is whether we would let Him take it.

Think about how much bigger God is as well. He can take the load of our mess.

Others messed up too

If we look at characters in the Bible, we see a lot of mess. Jacob manipulated his brother, Esau, into giving him his birthright for a bowl of soup and some bread (Gen 25:29–34). He then dressed up like his brother and tricked his father into giving him the blessing meant for Esau (Gen 27:1–41). Yet, Jacob was still chosen to continue the line which carried God’s promise (Gen 28:10–15).

King David messed up too. He coveted another man’s wife and then eventually sent the man, Uriah, to the frontlines to be killed to cover up his sin (2 Sam 11). In the end, King David had to be confronted by the prophet Nathan to realise the mess that he had made (2 Sam 12:1–15).

Through these stories, we see a common theme of messing up and then God coming to save. And the in-between of these steps is a repentant heart. Jacob knew what he had done to Esau was wrong and eventually made up with Esau (Gen 32–33). David realised his sin and cried out to God for mercy (2 Sam 12:13, Psalm 51). We don’t have to let our mess define us. Come back to God in repentance and see Him work in you, making something beautiful from the mess.

       We don’t have to let our mess define us.
       Come back to God in repentance and see Him work in you,
       making something beautiful from the mess.

Characters in the Bible are just as messy and broken like us. Yet, this did not stop God from making good on His promises, showing His faithfulness when his people are unfaithful. God even used the mess to make something beautiful. After their first child died, Solomon was born of David and Bathsheba, who eventually became the next king after David, carrying on his lineage. We look at characters in the Bible, we see a lot of mess. Jacob manipulated his brother, Esau, into giving him his birthright for a bowl of soup and some bread (Gen 25:29–34). He then dressed up like his brother and tricked his father into giving him the blessing meant for Esau (Gen 27:1–41). Yet, Jacob was still chosen to continue the line which carried God’s promise (Gen 28:10–15).

Characters in the Bible are just as messy and broken like us. Yet, this did not stop God from making good on His promises, showing His faithfulness when His people are unfaithful.

would you give God your mess?

Some may ask, why does this lineage even matter?

The line of descendants from Abraham to Isaac to Jacob to David led all the way to Jesus (Matt 1:1–17). And this is our good news to live out and carry to the world — Jesus came to save us from our mess and give us life anew! Through the generations, God has been the same faithful One amidst all the mess in the world.

Would you give God your mess today and let Him rescue you?

Share this article

Explore more articles

Shopping cart
Start typing to see posts you are looking for.