Are you willing to G E T D I R T Y with your friends, family, neighbors, classmates, or church family? Our lives are not altogether clean, orderly, or well put together. There are often seasons in our lives brought on due to trauma, death of a loved one (including pets), loss of employment, loss of investments, infidelity in relationships or chronic illness (physical and mental) that can literally mess everything up. I want to suggest that getting dirty is not bad or an inconvenience. I suggest that getting dirty is life.
I have heard Christians say critically that they "just can't be bothered" or "I work in the mental health field so I can't deal with 'crazy' in my personal life!" Every time I have had the displeasure of hearing such statements or reading them in social media posts I am pained by it. Here's why:
Will folks that say such things always stay clean, healthy, happy, and/or encouraged.
Are we willing to ask God to grow our capacity to be a good neighbor
As Christians it is important to recognize that our lives are not our own. We were bought with a price. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 tells us that our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit which includes our minds and emotions. I believe that some of us (Christians) would be able to get dirty with others if we only asked the Lord to increase our capacity for hard things. Instead many of us prefer to dismiss and ignore people who are struggling.
What I know to be true:
Some of us (Christians) have lived long lives filled with traumatic situations and abusive environments and would prefer to live life happy from this point on
. Some of us work extremely taxing jobs helping others with their trauma
Many of us leave work and go home to managing a family, extra-curricular activities, and ministry responsibilities
And I still believe that we have the capacity if we choose to ask the Lord to help us have what we need in order to get dirty with people around us. Jesus calls us the salt of the earth. He literally calls us a preservative that is meant to KEEP things non-perishable until He returns. He is looking for us to get dirty with others who are seasonally or chronically walking through muddy waters.
Are we willing to dig a little deeper and ask God for the capacity to do a better job at being the salt?
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