Many stories in the Bible do not end the way we want them to end. I recently preached from one of those
passages: 1 Kings
chapters 13. The people you want to get in trouble in this
passage don't, and the one guy you’re rooting for through the entire chapter ends
up dead on the side of the road.
Why would the Bible relate such an----- untidy
story? Why not tell the story with the
bad guys immediately getting what they have coming and the good guy riding off
into the sunset with treasures and glory?
Because the Bible is not a book of tidy fairy
tales. The Bible is the book of
Truth. The Bible is NOT a collection of
fictions invented for a desired, predetermined effect. The Bible is the record of reality as it
is---- not as we or the prophets wished it were. And the
reality is that because of sin, our world is a mess.
We can trust the Bible and the God of the Bible
because He tells it like it is. God
speaks through His Word with integrity.
People ask, “How can we trust a God who would allow millions
of refugees to be displaced by corrupt leaders waging unjust campaigns of
death?”
Didn’t this loving God honestly tell us that Joseph,
Mary, and Jesus were refugees to Egypt fleeing genocidal persecution at the hands
of King Herod? (Matthew
2: 13-18)
Corrupt and murderous leaders are the product of our
human corruption. We are those
leaders. These problems come from us, and
God is honest with us about how such situations work in our corrupt world.
That’s truth in an untidy world. That’s integrity.
We trust God because we know His integrity.
God is true. God is Truth. God is
also loving. God is Love.
His truth tells it like it is. His love offers redemption in the midst of
this untidy reality.
As Christians, professed followers of the Way of
Jesus, we are obligated to reflect that simultaneity of Truth and Love even
when the results are----- untidy.
But speaking the truth in love, [we] may grow
up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ (Ephesians 4: 15)
The untidy truth is that no life and no lifestyle is
beyond the reach of God’s redemptive grace, but that doesn’t mean that every
lifestyle is good and acceptable and endorsed by God.
The untidy truth is that God loves us when we’re
wrong without excusing our wrong just because He loves us.
The untidy truth is that forgiveness requires
repentance, and finding peace with our personal sins is not the same as repenting
of them.
The untidy truth is that God has a plan of
redemption and eternal glory, AND that same God has a simultaneous plan of judgment
and eternal darkness.
How can a good loving God condemn people just
because of what they do or what they
believe or how they live?
How can God be good and loving and not tell us the truth,
the untidy truth about how this all works?
Wouldn’t He be less than good and less than loving if He had his
prophets tell us only cute stories that say what we want to hear while ignoring
how things in the world we manage actually are?
But God is not unjust. God is not unfair. God is not dishonest.
He tells us the truth BECAUSE He does love us.
He tells us the truth BECAUSE He does love us.
The problem is not with the integrity of God’s
Word. The problem is that we don’t want
to accept the Truth of God’s Word.
Because the truth is untidy.
---Anderson
T. Graves II is a writer, community organizer
and consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.
Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Hall Memorial CME Church in Montgomery, Alabama, executive director of the
Substance Abuse Youth Networking Organization (SAYNO) and director of rural leadership development for
the National Institute for Human Development (NIHD).
To hear sermons, read devotions, and learn more
about the ministry at Hall Memorial CME Church, visit www.hallmemorialcme.blogspot.com .
If this message helps or touches you, please help
support this ministry. Send a donation of any amount by check or money order.
Mail all contributions to :
Hall Memorial CME Church
541 Seibles Road
Montgomery, AL 36116
Mail all contributions to :
Hall Memorial CME Church
541 Seibles Road
Montgomery, AL 36116
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