Daily Devotion | September 14, 2020

Good News About Messy Lives

by Pastor Corey

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"Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?" 17When Jesus heard this, he said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick, I have come to call not the righteous but sinners."
(Mark 2:16-17)

A few years ago, I bought a jacket, and I encountered Inspector Forty-Seven. Inspector Forty-Seven doesn’t know me from Adam, but we connected. I bought a jacket, and as I reached into a pocket, I found a note from Inspector Forty-Seven. The message read like this, “This Jacket Was Inspected by Me, Inspector Forty-Seven.” Inspector Forty-seven has a big job: she/he makes sure everyone does exactly what they are supposed to do. The Inspector is the great eliminator of creativity. The stifler of invention. She is the master of her domain. She makes sure the cutters cut. She makes sure the sewers sew. She makes sure the stitchers stitch. It is her job to inspect and keep things in order.

Some people see God as Inspector Forty-Seven. God’s job is to make endless inspections -- God inspects everything all the time. God is the God of Rules. God is the God of Order. As God inspects, God wears a bright white suit with bright white gloves. God is continuously searching for dirt, and when he finds it, God says, “Aha, you are caught, straighten this out. Get to work.” 

This God is not my God! I will not recognize his authority, and neither should you. I will not bend my knee, nor bow my back to a tyrant such as this, and neither should you. A God who hates messes, a God who convulses when he sees a mess, a God who insists on things being neat, orderly, proper, and mess-free, is not someone I want to hang around with at all! I am too, well, messy.

I am not sure how the image of the Inspector God got started. Although, I must admit the Bible clearly declares that God is pure, and that he is indeed holy, and that he despises all evil. But at the same time, He is the God who is so concerned, so involved, so merciful that He is always at work helping, always getting His hands dirty. God is the God of the mess. Good thing. I am a little messy!

Have a Great Week!

Corey Bjertness
Senior Pastor

 

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