Scripture Reading
We ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love all of you have for one another is increasing.
2 Thessalonians 1:3
Thought of the Day
I loved Mike Yaconelli. Mike was one of the founders of Youth Specialties and served as a lay pastor for forty-two years. Youth Specialties is one of the best resource companies for youth ministry. Sadly, Mike was killed in a car wreck back in 2003. It was a somber moment for me for sure.
Mike wrote several books and one of my favorites is called Messy Spirituality. I love the words under the title on the cover: God’s Annoying Love for Imperfect People. In the first chapter, Mike talks about how messy he is. He writes:
I want to be a good person. I don’t want to fail. I want to learn from my mistakes, rid myself of distractions, and run into the arms of Jesus. Most of the time, however, I feel like I am running away from Jesus into the arms of my own clutteredness. I want desperately to know God better. I want to be consistent. Right now, the only consistency in my life is my inconsistency. Who I want to be and who I am are not very close together. I am not doing well at the living-a-consistent-life thing. I don’t want to be St. John of the Cross or Billy Graham. I just want to be remembered as a person who loved God, who served others more than he served himself, who was trying to grow in maturity and stability. I want to have more victories than defeats.
Does this describe you a bit? It certainly hits home with me. We all have times where we feel like we are “sitting on top of the world,” and then moments of “what was I thinking.” I would be most happy with being the person he described towards the end of the passage. I want to be remembered as a person who loved God and who served others more than I served myself. I know you do too. So, don’t stress too much about not measuring up. You probably do. But always keep trying no matter how messy you think your life might be.
Prayer
Lord, You are the only One who can straighten up my sometimes messy life. Thank you. Amen.