Mess of Me

Day 38, September 16, 2011

I was just listening to Switchfoot’s song called Mess of Me.  The sum of the lyric’s are:

I am my own affliction

I am my own disease

There ain't no drug that they could sell

Ah, there ain't no drug to make me well

There ain't no drug

There ain't no drug

There ain't no drug, it's not enough

The sickness is myself

I made a mess of me

I wanna get back the rest of me

I made a mess of me

I wanna spend the rest of my life alive

We lock our souls in cages

We hide inside our shells

It's hard to free the ones you love

Oh, when you can't forgive yourself

Yeah, forgive yourself

I don’t know about you but there are definitely times when I can sing this song with all my being.  I will be the first to admit that I sometimes do things and say things without thinking first.  I have struggled with many a temptation, confrontation, and a quite few bouts of procrastination.  I can own the phrase, “I made a mess of me.”  I love where Jon Foreman, the lead singer of Switchfoot, goes with this song.  First off, he points out that our disease is in our self.  Second, he points out there is no drug (worldly thing) to fix this sickness.  Third, he nails us all with the need to forgive ourselves in order to be free of this affliction. 

We as Christians know that there is no forgiveness without Jesus yet many of us have been forgiven by Jesus and still cannot forgive ourselves of our past mistakes and sins.  The important thing to understand here is that we can never forget the sin and mistakes we have made in our lives but who are we to punish ourselves for our past mistakes when God as Psalm 103:12 says, “as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.” 

Until we get our self out of the way and let the Holy Spirit come in to work a sanctifying work in us to renew and purify us, we will continue to be our own affliction.  It is time we turn to our Lord to help us in the many things we struggle with.  It is time we begin to recognize sin as something that affects our mind, body, and spirit.  It is time we humbly seek the Lord’s assessment of our heart and life so we can learn the sin that is still a stronghold in our lives.  I know it is a tough blog and I don’t like to have the rooms of my heart cleaned either but I know I grow stronger in Christ through allowing the Holy Spirit access to all of my skeletons and sins.  How can we change and grow to becoming Christ-like if we won’t let the Holy Spirit purify and teach us? 

Humbly,

Greg