People are Messed Up

People are Messed Up

This fallen world sure takes a toll, doesn’t it? We see the terrible effects all around us, weeds, storms, diseases, all sorts of awful stuff.

Perhaps we see it most in people. We can be tempted to think that we’re okay and it’s everybody else that’s messed up. If we are honest, we know that isn’t true though, don’t we?

We are all affected by the wickedness and evil in this world. We are all subject to the effects of the fall. Even we who are in Christ, safely kept with Him in God, have our issues in this temporal terrarium in which we find ourselves.

Here’s the thing though.

If we can recognize that all those other folks who are messed up are really not different from us, that we are messed up too, then maybe we can find our way to giving them more grace.

If we can remember that we too sometimes conduct ourselves unseemly, maybe we can find the meek and gentle spirit we’ve been given and direct it toward them.

If we can see our own scars in the pain of others, maybe we can show compassion.

If we reflect on our forgiven failures, maybe we can overlook and forgive.

Maybe we can cut people some slack.
Maybe while we’re cutting slack, we can even cut a little extra for ourselves.

Trust me when I tell you this.
We all have stuff.
We all have crazy and difficult family dynamics.
We all have historical baggage that gives us a kind of PTSD.
We are all “on the spectrum” of dysfunction at least in some aspects of our lives.

If we can come to see this without judgment (for ourselves or others) maybe the temperature will cool a few degrees. Maybe we can better manifest our lovely Lord Jesus in our interactions.

What if we decided to bear the pain and press on in the best interest of others?

Don’t get me wrong here.
Please don’t.

I’m not promoting some new kind of law.

What I’ve written here is not meant to be or to become some kind of measuring stick.

None of this is meant to suggest that better conduct merits or yields greater acceptance or blessing by our Father.

All it’s intended to be is an observation born of personal experience and bit of guidance stemming from my own journey. This is nothing more than godly counsel rooted in Scripture.

“Let your gentle spirit be known to all people. The Lord is near.” (Philippians 4:5, NASB 2020)

“Take pains with these things; be absorbed in them, so that your progress will be evident to all. Pay close attention to yourself and to the teaching; persevere in these things, for as you do this you will save both yourself and those who hear you.” (1 Timothy 4:15–16, NASB 2020)

Grace and peace to you.
Larry