"I'm Just a Mess..." and Other Excuses

It is cool and trendy to be a mess these days - even in Christian circles where I spend a lot of my time.
       Somehow "I'm a mess" is a badge of honor, something to be admired and patted on the back for in some bizarre way.
       I find this ... disconcerting, to say the least, and very often harmful.
       The "I'm a mess" philosophy is usually a reaction to conservative religious legalism which says, "you can NEVER be a mess" and "we all have to have our act together in every way." And so we react to that and have a false understanding of God's transformative power in our lives.
       Certainly many people's lives are genuinely a mess - self-imposed sin, victimization, bad circumstances, tragedies happen in life. And God meets us and relates to us in the midst of the mess. This is the story of the incarnation, that Jesus took on flesh and became human in the midst of the muck and mire of humanity.
       But there is no glory and honor in simply living in the muck and mire. It is not God's grace that calls us to be stuck in sinful patterns or as victims of an alcoholic parent or an abusive spouse.
       God is all about redemption and making something beautiful out of chaos. He did it with creation, He does it today as He transforms people's lives. Certainly there are places of our lives which may remain messy and difficult, but even in the midst of that God wants to transform our minds and hearts to live well through it.
        And this is why the Apostle Paul could write to the Romans 12, "Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will."