Cleaning Up a Mess

I make coffee on a regular basis. This morning I made a mess.

Ed Meux used to stop by my office occasionally so I would almost always have a pot of coffee ready. He passed away over a year ago so it's just me drinking coffee now. So I swapped out the 12-cup coffee maker for a 4-cup machine. Still, I should not have had the problems I had this morning.

I still don't know what happened other than to simply say I made a mess. And the coffee wasn't that good, either.

Five trips down the hall to the bathroom sink to rinse things off and about half a roll of paper towels later... You can imagine.

Why is the clean-up always more involved than the mess-making?

I make a mess of my life from time to time. Not always big messes; sometimes just a little mess. Do you do that? Do you make decisions without praying first? Do you rush to a decision without waiting for an answer? Do you do what you want to do even after hearing from God?

Sometimes I don't need to pray - please hear what I'm saying - because my understanding of God's word should already be guiding my steps. Yet I act in ways that do not honor or glorify him. Or I act in ways that harm other people or take advantage of them. Do you do that?

What a mess we make when we don't seek God's guidance and don't follow his word! It would take more to clean up those messes than a few trips to the bathroom and some paper towels. Actually, those messes are called sin and you will never be able to clean it up yourself. God knew that and at the same time still demands that sin be cleaned up. That's why Jesus - God himself - came to earth, lived among us, died for us, and lives again. Jesus cleaned up our mess!

Now, you can continue to live in the filth and squalor of sin or you can turn to the Lord. Confess you sin (which means to agree with God that what you did is sin), repent of it (turn away from the ways of the world and turn toward the ways of God), and commit to live your life his way with Jesus as Savior and Lord.

The messes you make with your sin are too big for you to clean up. But Jesus will do it for you. Ask him to do it and he will. Then let me know so I can rejoice with you...maybe over a cup of coffee.