(This is an old post from my personal page reposted here with some edits)
Jesus messed up my life! Don't get me wrong, I love Jesus but when I signed on for this 'following' Jesus stuff many years ago, I was under the impression that everything would be okay...no problems, always full of joy and a place in heaven. No one told me about the things Jesus said like "In this world you will have trouble." or "the world will hate you on account of me." When I chose to follow Jesus (and it is a choice) God gave me a new nature - a nature that wants to please the one who died for me.
But I still have this old nature - the old man (pictured below in a piece I created in the late 90s), who desires to kick Jesus off the throne of my life.
If I were to stop here, you could conclude that Christians are nutty (In fact, the Bible says that we would be seen as fools - "Our dedication to Christ makes us look like fools, but you claim to be so wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are so powerful! You are honored, but we are ridiculed." 1 Cor. 4:10), but in reality, I believe we are the most sane of all people.
Christians don't minimize the fact that the world is messed up and some of the mess is due to the brokenness we have as followers of Jesus- but that discussion is for another time.
YET...
...We also do not minimize the grace and power of our Lord.
By the way, those things that Jesus said in that verse I quoted in the first paragraph, let me finish the whole thought and add another verse to clarify.
"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." John 16:23
Blessed are you when men hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man. Luke 6:22
I've realized that Jesus loves me too much to let me live in the status quo. He is the one who can take a struggling sinner like me out of a screwed up world, pour grace into my life and transform me. Jesus wants to mess my life up so much that I don't conform to this fallen world anymore and instead, overcome it. When you allow Jesus to "mess up your life" the result is blessing.
Despite my brokenness, sin and disfunction, Jesus loves me. So I am quite content in Jesus messing up my life all the more.
Jesus calls us from conformity to messiness...at least that's how the world will see it.
Stop deceiving yourselves. If you think you are wise by this world’s standards, you need to become a fool to be truly wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness to God. 1 Corinthians 3:18-19a