Messy Made New by Pete BriscoeSample

Admitting Messiness

I admit I’m a mess. My heart’s a disaster. I don’t have it all together. I was born this way. But I can be born again. — Lecrae

The Pharisees were a great example of self-deceived tidy people. Because they didn’t identify as sinners, they had no need for a Savior.

They were tidy. Healthy. Self-righteous. They had no time for Jesus and His love for messes.

“It is not the healthy who need a doctor but the sick.” (Luke 5:31)

Jesus was very clear. He called people to repentance and told them humility is being able to admit they are sick. Humility is saying we need help; we can’t do it on our own. We’re terminally ill.

When we recognize just how sick we are, persistence kicks in. Think about this physically: Once we know we’re sick, we call for a doctor’s appointment. If there’s nothing available, we insist to the point of impatience. We’ll call and call and call, hoping to be squeezed in. It was the same with Jesus.

There was a guy in Luke 5:18-20 who was paralyzed and desperate to be healed. The house where Jesus was had crowds so thick there was no way to reach the door. So his friends went up on the roof and lowered the paralyzed man down into the middle of the room. They set him right in front of Jesus.

This man knew he was sick, and he was desperate for healing.

Listen, some of you believe you can’t come to Jesus until your life is all tidy. You think Jesus isn’t going to have anything to do with you until you clean up your mess. This isn’t true. The Good News is better than that: Jesus can’t do anything for you until you admit you’re a mess.

Admitting we’re a mess is the repentance Jesus was talking about.

Jesus, if I’m a mess and need to admit it, this prayer is it! Come live in me. If I have already given myself to You, then may I become like the friends of the man who was lowered through the roof. How incredible! Who in my life needs to be carried? Embrace others through me in the same way You embraced me. Amen.