March 25, 2009
Scripture Reading
The amazing
grace of the Master, Jesus Christ, the
extravagant love of God, the intimate
friendship of the Holy Spirit, be with all of
you.
- 2 Corinthians 13:14
Thought of the Day
It is no secret
that I tend to be messy. Now I do not mean
that I need to eat with a bib, or that my mom
still cleans the food off of my face with a
spoon after I eat. I feed myself for the
record. I don't always pick up my dirty
socks when I kick them off at night. The
area around my easy chair in our den tends to
have books and papers and other things around
it. My desk at my office has many stacks of
stuff on it. I am somewhat messy.
One of my
favorite books is by Mike Yaconelli. The
name of it is Messy Spirituality.
Yaconelli was one of the founders of Youth
Specialties, which is perhaps "the" resource
for youth ministry. This book is a
collection of writings by Yaconelli about his
"messy faith". Read these passages from his
book.
Jesus is not repelled by us, no matter how
messy we are, regardless of how incomplete we
are. When we recognize that Jesus is not
discouraged by our humanity, is not turned
off by our messiness, and simply doggedly
pursues us in the face of it all, what else
can we do but give in to His outrageous,
indiscriminate love?
The grace of God is dangerous. It's
lavish, excessive, outrageous, and
scandalous. God's grace is ridiculously
inclusive. Apparently God doesn't care who
He loves. He is not very careful about the
people He calls His friends or the people He
calls His church. Exactly.
These words
grab me in a big way. Remember that God
loves us because of who He is, not because of
who we are.
Prayer
Lord, thank You for Your outrageous,
indiscriminate love. I am Yours. Amen.
