View From The Bluff: Purpose Among The Mess

I asked a friend how his job was going. To which he replied, "Well, it would sure be a lot easier if my job didn't include people."

I chuckled as I do when I don't know what to say after a comment that takes me by surprise. But as his words began to mull around in my mind, I found a lot of truth in what he said.

Our lives are messy and hard often times due to the people in our lives and the choices we all make while living together in this world.

And then I think of God...

In a perfect world, the Garden of Eden still got messy with just two people on earth. It definitely would have be much easier for God if his creation didn't include humans.

Perhaps your life would be easier too without people...without the boss who keeps running your life with the decisions he/she makes in the workplace. Without the person who says she is your friend but doesn't act like it. Without the relative who seems to cause tension in the room at every family gathering. Without the neighbor with a chip on his shoulder. Or the grumpy co-worker who enjoys complaining. The list goes on and on.

It definitely would be easier, but God didn't design it that way. His blueprint included relationship through every thread of His creation - relating with God, with each other, and with creation - intertwined with one another.

And in those relationships, God gave us choice...called free will. God was intentional about this like all of His creation. There was still "purpose" in the equation for free will, even though it made life messier and harder. However, His purpose wasn't to make life easier...but richer.

Relationships are complicated. There is no doubt about that, but when I think about God, I think about how we were created to live life together. All part of His intricate plan to bring about His rich purposes and after separation due to sin, transformation in our lives. How else would we experience the fruit of the Spirit (peace, kindness, patience, self-control) outside the realm of relationships?

Here are a few of my "purpose-full" thoughts on this:

1. In relationships we find True Love. It is easy to forget what "true love" is because our world has many distorted definitions of it. But true love is unconditional. It's not about only loving those who love us back or who are nice to us. It is loving the unlovable, the annoying, the unkind, and the hurtful. We, ourselves, make mistakes in our relationships, and it is through our messes that we can fully understand the true love and forgiveness of Christ.

2. In relationships we find ourselves: "As iron sharpen iron, so does one person sharpen another." (Proverbs 27:17) Through relationships, God reveals our strengths and our weaknesses. Our need for people in our lives as well as the need for us to be in others' lives. Conflicts and disagreements can also bring out our worst selves, revealing our need for God and our need for His transforming grace.

3. Conflict can bring about good: This one's hard for me. I like to avoid conflict. But now that I'm at the age where I can look back on a slew of relationships, I've had many experiences where conflict birthed intimate and deep relationships with people.

4. God uses our differences: When we look at the variety and diversity of God creation, it makes complete sense that we would have differences. So why are we surprised? God uses our individual gifts and perspectives to steer men and women into new directions. Just as God used Paul and Barnabas' disagreement to spread the word to different parts of the world, God will use our unique passions and viewpoints to spur us on to our next calling.

If we want easy, I guess we should find a solitary place to live alone.
But I figure...

if it was worth it for God to allow

relational messes if we so choose,

then it must be worth it for us

to find His purposes among the mess.

My gratitude today comes from the relationships my family had the privilege of journeying life with for five years in Georgia. Without these relationships, we would have missed the riches that far outweigh the messes. Thank you, Georgia family! You are priceless gifts from God!

Our beautiful Reach One Church family!