This morning (Wednesday before Christmas)...

I looked into our front room and sighed. It has not been all that long since we cleaned, rearranged and refurnished (moving around furniture we had refurnished sounds so much more…well just more). Today it is a mess again with wrapped presents stacked on the table and under the table and only one under the Christmas tree.

Clutter builds up like that. You clean, organize, straighten and before you know it it is stacked as high as before not with the old but with new “goodies” (they are so good there was no other place for them).  It just never stops. I have no solution to this problem as I am a pack rat as well. I never have the right place for something until it has set in a stack for a while. Then I thought about the packages.

Those beautifully wrapped packages cluttering up the front room are for two other families who needed some help this Christmas. They are given in love to others who could not help themselves. Do you get where this is going? That clutter, those stacks, are the result of ministry the product of loving and giving. It’s Christmas. That is Christmas clutter at its best for its best because of the best gift ever given Jesus. Born at Christmas as a gift for those who could not help themselves like me and you, Jesus is God’s best and only, the greatest gift given because of love God’s love for the world. The Christmas story is messy. It is definitely not clean and it gets messier as Herod has killed all of the male children in Bethlehem less than 2 years of age. That is messy because of this gift of love.

His ministry (Jesus) was constantly stopped by misunderstanding and strife. It would have been easier to just go along like it always had. Not as many problems that way easy, simple, boring, faithless, life in the ordinary. Ministry is anything but boring or ordinary.

As we consider one year past and another beginning let’s evaluate the past and make plans for the future. Consider have we played it safe or been on the front lines? When did we choose easy because we are lazy? Is that how we reflect Jesus the best? If not, what would reflect him more clearly in the coming year? What ministry have we been avoiding simply because it is messy and difficult and God is a God of order and easy (in our mind). He could not possibly be messy, could He?

For the coming year let’s look at the WORD Jesus for our pattern of life and ministry. It won’t be easy and it WILL be messy like our front room. As I thought about this I decided it was good that it was messy.

It’s Christmas!