You're a Hot Mess!!

I first heard the term “hot mess” on cult TV show Arrested Development.  Then reading craft blogs I noticed the term popping up again and again often referring to craft fails or the state of the crafter at the end of a project.  The Urban Dictionary defines the term “When ones thoughts or appearance are in a state of disarray but they maintain an undeniable attractiveness or beauty” although there are an array of different meanings for this term ranging from just completely unorganized and/or attractive to the not safe for work definitions.  For the purposes of this post though I’m going to go with the Urban Dictionary’s above definition because when I think about sanctification these days I think of it as a hot mess.  

 I used to think that when you became a Christian you started getting more holy, from the bottom all the way up in a straight line up to the clouds as you got better and better and in a few years I would be so holy and sanctified I would be amazing!  And nothing would go wrong!

But it turns out sanctification is a lot more like counselling.  You go to counselling because you feel like something is wrong; you might be anxious or depressed or stressed and you go there to feel better but it’s not until you get into the counselling process and have to face your issues head on that you realize just how terrible your problems are!  It’s painful and messy and you feel much worse than when you started and you can easily think to yourself “this is not getting better, this is getting worse- I thought this counsellor was going to help me!  I’ve made a huge mistake.”  But in order to get better you must face all those things you were avoiding before counselling and if you can do that you will come out the other side better for it.

It’s the same with Christian sanctification.  The Holy Spirit will make sure we face the hard facts about ourselves; that we are sinners, that we are failing and that we are helpless to save ourselves; that we are a hot mess!  This is painful and humbling to realize about oneself but God’s aim is to not leave your thoughts there!!  Because being a hot mess means you are still attractive in your messiness.  Attractive to who?  To the Lord Jesus Christ whose very mission from all eternity was to come to the sinner, the outcast, the down-trodden, the unattractive, the poor, the blind, the messy and to die for them so that you and I and all our messy mates can receive a divine cleansing, have the royal robes of heaven draped around our shoulders and welcomed into an eternal celebration.  

So comfort yourself with this dear Christian, that the one who died for you, who welcomed you into his family is constantly at work in you to make you like you were always supposed to be; his spotless child.  This work is painful because you are still stuck in your earthly body which resists all efforts to be cleansed (like my children!) but it is only temporary for at your death these struggles shall pass into glory and you shall rest and Jesus will be with you ever step of the way.