My faith is a mess!

     I grew up in Sunday School and was taught that every question had a neat and clean answer.  The answers normally including the following: God, Jesus, Holy Spirit, Pray, Read Your Bible, and Witness.  I then went away to Bible College and was taught the same principle on even deeper issues.  We were given erudite tomes to answer all of our questions.  (Your probably wondering what in the world an erudite tome is, aren't you?  Well, if you would have went to college you would know!  Hah! Just playing.)
     The underlying assumption was that if you studied long enough, got the degrees and the letters after your name, then all the deep theological questions could be answered and placed into nice neat little compartments.  We were given the illustration of an egg to teach the Trinity.  We were given neat and clean answers to questions such as: "Why do bad things happen to good people?" , "Is homosexuality a sin?" and "What will happen in the end times?"
     The problem is that I memorized all of their answers, got straight A's, made the Dean's List, even graduated Summa Cum Laude (whatever that means), but as I got out into the real world things didn't seem to be so neat and clean.  Life was down right messy!
     When you are trying to help a young man whose marriage is falling apart, the neat and clean answer to "Why do bad things happen to good people?" seems to fall flat.  When you are sitting across the table from a good friend who confesses his struggle with homosexuality, the old line of "God created Adam and Eve not Adam and Steve." just feels insanely foolish. What I have learned the hard way is that:

 Issues change when you put a face to them.

     I believe that "Abortion is Murder" but everything changes when you are trying to counsel a young girl who is wrestling with what she should do.  Please don't misunderstand me.  I am in no way suggesting that we should get wishy-washy about the truth.  Philippians 1:9 says "I pray that your love will overflow more and more, and that you will keep on growing in knowledge and understanding."  I believe that the only possible way to reach someone with love is to be standing on the foundation of truth.
     What I am suggesting is that Christians should stop pretending that everything has a nice, neat, clean and brightly packaged answer.  Let's stop offering band-aids to people who are bleeding to death.  Let's not be afraid to get down in the muck and mire of someone's pain.  What if we were OK with saying "I don't know" and "I don't understand" instead of thinking that we had to have all of the answers.
     I leave you with a quote from my profoundly wise wife.  "Faith is rarely a neatly organized cupboard, but more often a journey through a wilderness."  I will be the first to admit that my faith is not neat and organized, but it is a mess.  I challenge my fellow Christians to give yourself and those around you the freedom to make the same discovery.