Happy Almost Friday!

When I was younger, and our extended family on my mom's side would get together, my cousins and I would spend hours playing outside. My grandmother had a big blue shed in her backyard, and behind that shed was a plot of dirt. "Us kids" loved to dig in that dirt! And for whatever reason, we never dug with our hands; we used metal spoons from Granny's kitchen. While some of us were competing to see who could dig the deepest, or the biggest whole, or who could dig the fastest, my main goal usually seemed to be to be able to dig alongside everyone else without getting a single speck of dirt on my hands or my clothes. I would dig as slowly and meticulously as necessary in order to avoid getting messy. I would not even sit down while I dug; I hovered over the ground in kind of a squatting position. I wanted to be included in what was going on around me, but I did not particularly want to be very involved. I wanted to be near the mess and the dirt without actually being in it.

As we grew older, my sister began helping my grandmother in the kitchen. I would cringe at the prospect of helping in the kitchen. I hated getting my hands sticky; I hated smelling funny. I would not touch uncooked chicken breast because of its yucky smell and slimy texture. I would help in a distant, far-removed manner: stirring, rinsing, setting the oven timer, but never touching the mess. I gave the appearance of helping, but compared to what I could have been doing, I really was not helping much at all. I made my services in the kitchen available, but with lots of contingencies attached.

I am sure you know where I am going with this by now...

Thank God that He is not this way! We serve a God who is not afraid to reach into the broken places of our lives and transform them. The messiness of our hearts does not stop Him from loving us. The God of the universe humbled Himself to the point of death: the death of the lowest of criminals. He was not too proud to get involved in the disgusting, repulsive parts of our lives. And where I would be today without His grace, I do not know.

"Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death- even death on a cross!"
- Philippians 2:6-8

"God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God."
- 2 Corinthians 5:21

He has transformed my heart. He is continuing to transform my heart. Because of His redemption in my life, I no longer hold the messiness of others at bay. I want to become involved in the broken pieces of other people's lives so that I can share with them the hope that I have. Whereas I was once repulsed by unclean things, I am now drawn toward those things and those people that may be, by the world's standards, unlovable. I live for days that I am able to reach into someone's life and help them produce change.

In the field of social work, I am rarely able to express my faith verbally, but that does not mean I am unable to express it directly. My actions may be the only picture of Christ that certain individuals and families ever experience (2 Corinthians 3:3). I serve a God who associated with the lowly and the dirty. I serve a God who is not afraid to get His hands messy. As I was reminded of Sunday, I serve a God who helps those who cannot help themselves. And none of us can. If we could help ourselves, Christ would have come and died for naught. How dare I even begin to think that I can help myself? How dare I try to maintain control of my own life when the King of the world has asked that I relinquish that control to Him?

"But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions- it is by grace you have been saved... For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith- and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God- not by works, so that no one can boast."
- Ephesians 2:4,5,8

Thank God for redeeming me. He summoned me from complacency to a life of compassion. Thank God that He was not too mighty or too powerful to consider Himself lower than the lowest of sinners. Thank God for healing the places of my heart that no one else knew needed healing. Thank God that every broken place in my life is an opportunity for grace and for transformation.

Psalm 71:23- "My lips will shout for joy when I sing praise to you- I, whom you have redeemed."