Messes come in as much variety as there are people.  And each of us get messy in our own multitude of ways.  Sometimes we screw up our lives, sometimes we are blind to the messes we make and need to wake up, sometimes circumstances beyond our control mess us up. 

What about the messes we create for ourselves and others?  Today, we meet a woman named Sarai in the book of Genesis.  God made her a staggering promise about her life.  Ten years later, the promise was slow in coming.  She grew impatient and came up with her own plan.  It made a mess… for herself, for her husband, and for their whole household.  

We all need grace, don’t we?  God’s grace is greater than any mess we find ourselves in.  What’s messy about your life right now?  Where do you need God’s grace in Jesus to clean house?

Messes come in as much variety as there are people.  And each of us get messy in our own multitude of ways.  Sometimes we screw up our lives, sometimes we are blind to the messes we make and need to wake up, sometimes circumstances beyond our control mess us up.  

Jesus takes the frayed strands our lives and weaves a tapestry of grace.  Jesus is not surprised at the messy places life finds us and he’ll never turn his back on us.  No. Matter. What. 

The message this week takes us to one of those hidden messes.  In the story of the man with two sons, we see the mess of the younger son – the one who went off and rebelled against his dad.  Sunday we’ll look at the mess of the older son.  He was just as lost, maybe even worse.  He stayed home, he did everything right, he never disobeyed.  And he was messed up.  Watch what happens when the veil is pulled back.

This week we’ll see the same story of redemption play out, only through the lens of an insider – someone who had power and was in authority, but whose life was just as messy as anyone else’s. On Sunday we’ll look at Zacchaeus. And hopefully we can learn a few lessons from Zacchaeus not just about how we should live, but also about who our God is and how He operates among our mess.