If your version of the Christian life has you pleased with your performance and fulfilling most of your spiritual expectations, there may be a chance that you are following the wrong one. That’s right. Beware of systems or even patterns of thinking that resolve most questions, make controversial issues black and white, or smooth out all the bumps in the road for you. Such careful organization of the Christian life is more akin to what the Pharisees had going for them than the disciples of Christ. For the Pharisees, everything in their religious bag was neat and tidy. There were no ambiguities, no doubts, no discussions necessary; everything was meticulously spelled out for them.
On the other hand, you have the disciples of Jesus who were pretty undisciplined — pretty clueless as to what was going on, a very messy bunch. One minute Jesus is praising Peter for his spiritual insight, and the next, calling him Satan for wanting to get in the way of God’s plan. Or later, you see three of the disciples arguing over who would get to sit next to Jesus in heaven. Numerous times Jesus loses patience with his disciples for having too little faith for the situation at hand. Then they are fearing for their lives in a storm at sea when the Creator of the wind and the waves is with them right there in the boat! Then they fell asleep when He needed them to stay up and pray with Him. And, of course, they all abandoned Him in the end including the one who betrayed Him after walking with Him for three years, seeing miracle after miracle. Nor did they immediately believe the resurrection, even when He had predicted it.
Let’s face it, the disciples were a pretty unreliable group. But that will always be true for followers of Jesus. True Christianity is messy. That’s because it’s God working through ordinary fallible people like you and me. And when it’s done right, it shows up what is wrong with us, so that what is right about the Lord through the Holy Spirit shines through, and there is no doubt where the power is coming from (2 Corinthians 4:7).
That’s why when you look at a representation of Christianity that is neat and tidy, like the “shiny happy people” that R.E.M. sings about, you have reason to suspect that this is not the Lord working through people but a reasonable facsimile of what we think we should look like as good Christians. Fake Christianity is impressive, but it is not real. True Christianity is messy, because it is God working through us as we are, not as we should be.
So there you have it: real Christianity is messy; fake Christianity is squeaky clean. Which one do you think most people recognize?
John Fischer The Catch 
Many of us have heard the old saying about many issues not being black and white and their was some gray. Thank God for that. Unfortunately both sides of Christianity are recognized. I believe thru the messiness Jesus came for all and saved so many and thankfully he has always forgiven our sins. He made that quite clear long ago when he died on the cross and came back to life. Nothing neat about that one. Life has many ups and downs like a roller coaster. Jesus will ride with us all the way thru the worst of times and the best. Thank God we don’t have to be tidy. Take care, God Bless, and have a great day.
Let me plz add another Amen to your comments, Toni!
Amen Toni!
I lift my inner being to you, Adonai;
I trust you, my God.
Don’t let me be disgraced,
don’t let my enemies gloat over me.
No one waiting for you will be disgraced;
disgrace awaits those who break faith for no reason.
Make me know your ways, Adonai,
teach me your paths.
Guide me in your truth, and teach me;
for you are the God who saves me,
my hope is in you all day long.
Remember your compassion and grace, Adonai;
for these are ages old.
Don’t remember my youthful sins or transgressions;
but remember me according to your grace
for the sake of your goodness, Adonai.
Adonai is good, and he is fair;
this is why he teaches sinners the way [to live],
leads the humble to do what is right
and teaches the humble [to live] his way.
All Adonai’s paths are grace and truth
to those who keep his covenant and instructions.
For the sake of your name, Adonai,
forgive my wickedness, great though it is.
Who is the person who fears Adonai?
He will teach him the way to choose.
He will remain prosperous,
and his descendants will inherit the land.
Adonai relates intimately with those who fear him;
he makes them know his covenant.
My eyes are always directed toward Adonai,
for he will free my feet from the net.
Turn to me, and show me your favor;
for I am alone and oppressed.
The troubles of my heart are growing and growing;
bring me out of my distress.
See my affliction and suffering,
and take all my sins away.
Consider my enemies, how many there are
and how cruelly they hate me.
Protect me and rescue me;
don’t let me be disgraced,
for I take refuge in you.
Let integrity and uprightness preserve me,
because my hope is in you.
God! Redeem Isra’el
from all their troubles!
~ Psalm 25 (CJB)
Shalom, Peace…
🙂
Great verses from Psalm’s 25, brother Bob!
Thank you, Mark.
This Psalm – this prayer – of King David seemed to me to fit well with John’s reminder of our Christian messiness.
As I understand it, Psalm 25 was written by David as a prayer in seeking divine help in overcoming his own sinful inclinations.
In verse 2, David asked, “don’t let my enemies gloat over me” (“do not… let my enemies triumph over me.” – NIV).
However, David wasn’t asking for help in escaping from men, but rather, he was asking for help escaping from himself.
Although now revered and remembered for his passion and faithfulness to God, David was also one of the messiest followers of God. We all know the details.
In Psalm 25 (and other Psalms) David was humbly asking God for help in mastering his own desires and resisting temptations. David’s request was that he would be able to rule over those desires and not allow them to rule over him. He prayed, “Guide me in your truth, and teach me; for you are the God who saves me, my hope is in you all day long” (v.5).
We are a messy lot, indeed, but if we simply accept that fact, and try not to gloss over it, and humbly ask God for help in teaching and guiding us, then we’ll be in mighty fine company with other messy believers from Noah through Abraham, from Moses through David, from Peter through Paul, and from you and me through to those who have an ear to hear.
Jesus tagged the Pharisees as “whitewashed tombs—beautiful on the outside but filled on the inside…” with all sorts of icky messiness.
We, too, once housed that ick and we sometimes still allow it to define us. We may feel and look scruffy or unworthy but the Blood of Jesus cleaned us inside and outside and for always.
On those occasions, though, when we struggle with temptation or doubt our self-worth, like David we, too, can ask God to not let the ick get the upper hand.
He sees through our messiness and knows our hearts.
Shalom, Peace to you Mark…
🙂
Some of the above I excerpted from the Holy Land Daily Devotional dated July 16, 2023: “Humility Comes First”
https://www.ifcj.org/learn/holy-land-moments/daily-devotionals/humility-comes-first
Hi brother Bob 4 some reason there wasn’t a reply button to your excellence comments to me and first of all you’re welcome!
Also, back years ago I was blessed enough as a newer believer to go with a Church group to the Holy Lands tour and seeing a lot of the places where it’s believed David wrote some of the Psalms, so they hold a special place in my heart!
Also, need to add an Amen to this from your comments: “We may feel and look scruffy or unworthy but the Blood of Jesus cleaned us inside and outside and for always.”
God’s speed to the Catch community!
This got a big Amen out of me Pastor John as I read Today’s Catch: “Fake Christianity is impressive, but it is not real. True Christianity is messy, because it is God working through us as we are, not as we should be.”
I had a young woman who came to me feeling defeated say, “I’ve been trying to be a good Christian.”
Of course, my reply was, “Being a ‘good Christian’ is not what it is all about.”
It is about bringing your brokenness to God.
Now THAT’S messy! But that is the welcome refuge we find with a God who declares us His children despite a lifetime of emerging awareness of our sin. Sanctification is a graciously slow process of enlightening contrasts: our sinfulness and His love.
Thanks John. Well done again.
Absolutely loved this brother Jim: “… my reply was, “Being a ‘good Christian’ is not what it is all about.””” Amen!
A “good Christian” is one who rejoices in their forgiveness!