We’ve had some captivating visitors out our house this spring. A family of swallows has skillfully manufactured their home in our entryway. It has been like binge watching episodes of “Fixer Upper” as they make trip after trip to add mud, grass and feathers to shape up their home. And then we switch to the Discovery channel as we observe the babies hatch and follow these swallows as they care for their young. It has all been quite fascinating except for one thing – they leave a big mess on our porch! But we have put up with a little mess to witness the beauty.
That’s a whole lot like the church. Beautiful but a bit messy at the same time.
I’ve been in the church for most of my life. I’ve seen the best of times and the worst of times. I’ve witnessed lives utterly transformed, marriages saved, and people healed of all kinds of physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual maladies. And I’ve experienced the pain of getting ground up in the gears of church politics, congregational meetings that looked more like an episode of Jerry Springer, and some of the most disgraceful discrimination found anywhere on the planet. A great deal of beauty with a good bit of mess.
God’s plan to make his grace known to the world is not for a bunch of perfect people to live together in textbook harmony but rather for a gang of messed up people to cling desperately to Jesus and look to him to help in our weakness. That’s where God does his best work. We endure a little mess to behold the beauty of God.
I love the church. I love the church in all its beauty. I love the church with all its mess. I love the church because God loves the church (Ephesians 5:22-23). And that’s why I’m giving my life to it. How about you?
Ryan Smallwood
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