Here we are at the last message of the Messy Spirituality series. We have looked at the messes of anger, discouragement, despair, bitterness, guilt, and greed. The mess we are looking at this week is fear. And this list is by no means exhaustive. We are all spiritual beings with human issues. God loves us deeply and completely.

We are now on week seven in the Messy Spirituality series, and we have covered some messes! The mess we will be looking at this week can be a tricky one. Greed. We have a mess, but it wouldn’t seem SO bad if I had what, say, Deion Sanders has. You and I both have messes, but yours just doesn’t seem that bad. It’s easy to think that we don’t have a problem; they have a problem.

Guilt. When you read that word just now, what came to mind? Do you have a proverbial junk drawer or junk closet or room or garage that is full of the mess of guilt? We don’t know exactly what to do with the guilt. We hang onto it like the old broken flashlight or old keys or used-up pens.

Anger, pride, discouragement, despair. Sounds pretty messy, doesn’t it? Well, just wait; there’s more. This week we looked at the story of Jonah and the mess of bitterness. Bitterness can creep in as we judge others, seeing them as “the problem”. Bitterness can also come in when we face hard times and don’t get the outcome we think we should. Before we know it, a root of bitterness has taken hold in our life.

Pastor Adam has been bringing us some very timely and helpful messages in this series, Messy Spirituality; A Series for Imperfect Christians. Last week we looked at the mess of discouragement. We looked at Hannah, one of the two wives of Elkanah, and how the “other” wife made fun of her for not being able to have children. She faced discouragement, which is defined as wishing things were different but not having the ability to change. However, even in the midst of that mess, Hannah got up and prayed, and God heard her and blessed her with a son. We are reminded that God is with us in the middle of our mess.

This week we are going to look a few layers deeper . . .

In the last couple of weeks, we have looked at the mess of anger and pride. These two topics are messes that come from inside and us trying to do things our way. These are messes of sin and can really grow out of hand so quickly.

Last week began a new series called “Messy Spirituality/ A Series for Imperfect Christians”, a.k.a.-you and I. I am so thankful that God meets us in the middle of our mess. We all have messes in our lives. Some we are very aware of and other messes we have grown accustomed to. They are hiding out in our blind spot.

Let’s go on a little walk together. We approach a house, it looks neatly manicured and well cared for. We open the door and go in, the inside is a bit disorganized, but nothing crazy. However, there is a smell. It’s rather strong in some areas of the house. We wonder what’s causing the smell and how long it’s been that way. When we ask the person living in the house what the smell is, they look at us confused. Smell . . .