Un-Made Beds and Messy Hearts

I didn't make my bed today. This may not mean a lot to you, but this is a pretty big honkin' deal for me. Why? I'm a big fan of organization. Now, most people would say, "Yeah, so am I!"

You don't understand.

If my bed isn't made, I feel like I can't continue the rest of the work I have to do that day. It's somewhat akin to trying to work in my PJs. I can't do it because it makes me feel like the morning isn't over. At least, if I'm staying around the house, that is. Just the simple fact of knowing that two rooms over, there is an un-made, messy bed makes me think, "What are you doing?! Don't you know there's a pile of disheveled linen in the same house as you? It's like you just woke up! Slob!"

Ok, I might not be that self-deprecating, and this phenomenon may have impacted me more in the past, but the idea still remains. It still irks me a little when I try to pray or read the Bible in the same room as my messed-up bed.

This past week, I went to a student-organized worship night at my school. It was a great time of singing to the Lord and lifting Him up in song. There isn't much of a message at these things because of the nature of the event, but there are short sermon-readings and quick thoughts spoken from the microphone. At one point, one of the students was saying something about how God accepts us no matter where we're at, and no matter what sin we've committed. In this line of thinking about approaching God wherever your sin has found you, he said this often-heard line, "You don't have to be perfect."

See, growing up in the church, I knew what he was trying to say, but whenever someone says that, I feel like it begs a larger implication. It's as if they might be trying to say, "You don't have to be perfect, just not that bad," or, "You don't have to be perfect, but almost." Whoever's reading this, I want you to read this next part very carefully:

God takes you even if your bed's messy.

God has a history of bringing salvation to fools, liars, murderers, racists, the arrogant, the downcast of society, the sexually abused, the ones no one wanted, the religious hypocrite, the prodigal son, and the greedy. I challenge you to find a character in the Bible that God hadn't received because they were too messed up. My bet is that you won't find him. And there's some pretty twisted dudes in there, with murderers and adulterers making up some pretty prominent men in the Bible.

God takes you even if your bed's messy. But He won't let you keep it that way.

So stop trying to fix something you know you'll never be able to, and let God buy you some new sheets.

As for me, I gotta go make my bed.

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