The ugly makes the beautiful possible. Living a sterile stoic existence is what drives many to end it all. Pretending to be something you’re not, and not being able to express the true you is also a miserable way of existing that will only end in pathetic existential answers. It makes you a coward, and you apologize when you have nothing to be sorry for.

I don’t write that as an argument to to be narcissistic. I don’t argue that for some who need less as a license to be a jerk. Our rights infested consumer western world doesn’t need another diatribe to demand happiness. We need Jesus. Jesus comes even still today to our midst to remind us that what we think is important isn’t. Praying, breaking bread, looking each other in the eye, mourning with each other, celebrating with each other and staying pure is what he wants in our midst. Are some of us rough around the edges? Sure. Apostles James and John were constantly putting both feet in their mouths. But if your comfort zone can’t make room at table for people like James and John then your love is a clanging cymbal. I don’t have time for you. If you constantly have to be the center of attention with your damn filibusters I don’t have time for you either. If you’re going to stare at your phone all evening I don’t have time for you. If you’re going to complain constantly please do it around your grandma. Or before you come to my house take a chill pill. It’s ok. You can take a chill pill and still follow Jesus.

Life hurts like hell for everyone. Tough times don’t last, but tough people do, and that goes for marriages, churches, schools and businesses.

I will not walk on eggshells because God has given me a Spirit of power. He’s given me stature, and if that intimidates you stop being so visual because God can give you that same Spirit of power that toppled Goliath. It’s never a good time for strong Christians to run and hide. We need to speak up in love. We need to believe in the validity of the Bible for all times because its words lead to life. Love today means we are tolerant of what anyone wants to do. That was never God’s message to his people in the Bible. He told them and he tells us to confess our sins and try not to do them again. We’re good at pointing out the sins of others, but when was the last time you looked deep within your own mind and heart to draw near to the Father?

That’s what made King David a man after God’s own heart even though murder and adultery were on his rap sheet. He stayed true and faithful to the end even through the consequences that came after the murder and adultery. He didn’t try to get out of them. He didn’t try to barter with God, and he didn’t blame God. He took full responsibility for his actions, and wrote some of the deepest Psalms we read to this day.

We have a Father who is closer than the blood in our veins. He knows the worst and best about each one of us, and he still wakes us gently each morning to reminders we are always loved. People we depend on fail us. They die. They reject us. They betray us. Jesus Christ not only paid for our salvation, but he stays near and in us to woo us nearer him. It’s a love story that doesn’t end. It’s sustained followers on death row. It’s given people the strength to breath their last breath at the hands of murderers. And it’s empowered others to leave this life in peace at home.

Death is sadly a reality we have to experience here, but there will come a day when the thought and the experience will be deleted. Put your faith in that kind of power.