THE GREASE OF ALL MODERN ‘NON-RELATIONSHIPS'

1. WHAT DOES MESSY SPIRITUALITY LOOK LIKE?
Spirituality is home to those who don’t have life figured out, who don’t know the Bible as well as they could, and who don’t have their spiritual lives all together-the rest of us who thought there wasn’t a ‘rest of us,’ Christians who are trying to follow Jesus the best we can.

2. UNPRETENDING
There is no room for pretending in the spiritual life.
There exists an unwritten rule in some religious circles: pretend.
Give the impression everything is okay in your life when it’s not.
Pretend you believe when you doubt; hide your imperfections; maintain the image and don’t admit you sin or struggle with temptations.

*WHEN YOU THINK ABOUT IT-PRETENDING IS EFFICIENT, UNCOMPLICATED AND QUICK.
Honesty requires a huge investment of time and energy.
Pretending is the grease of all modern ‘non-relationships’.
Pretending perpetuates the illusion of relationships by connecting us on the basis of who we aren’t. Therefore, people who pretend have pretend relationships.
Being real and honest means our messiness is there for everyone to see.

3. THE TRUTH IS: WE ARE ALL A MESS!
None of us are who we appear to be.
We all have secrets we don’t want to share.
We all have issues we don’t want to admit.

READ ROMANS 3:10

*WHEN YOU AND I STOP PRETENDING, WE EXPOSE THE PRETENDING OF EVERYONE AROUND US AND THE BUBBLE OF THE ‘PERFECT CHRISTIAN’ LIFE IS BUSTED AND WE ALL MUST FACE THE REALITY OF OUR BROKENNESS.

4. UNFINISHEDNESS:
Unfinished means incomplete, in progress, imperfect, under construction.
Spiritual describes someone who is incomplete, imperfectly living their life for God.

5. THE WORK OF GOD IN OUR LIVES WILL NEVER BE FINISHED UNTIL WE MEET HIM FACE TO FACE.
Until we give up and give in to the things we are not.

*SPIRITUALITY ISN’T ABOUT BEING FINISHED AND PERFECT; SPIRITUALITY IS ABOUT TRUSTING GOD WITH OUR UNFINISHEDNESS.
Jesus understood unfinishedness.
When He left the disciples they were confused, depressed, afraid, and doubtful.

IF THE DISCIPLES WERE A WORK IN PROGRESS…IT SHOULD REMIND US WE WILL ALWAYS BE A WORK IN PROGRESS AND THAT THIS PROCESS IS MORE SPIRITUAL THAN WE ORIGINALLY THOUGHT.

6. INCOMPETENCE:
According to Dictionary.com it's defined as 'the inability to distinguish right from wrong or to manage one's affairs.'

Spirituality is the humiliating recognition that I don’t know how to pray well.
Spirituality is recognition that I don’t understand God’s WORD or know how to navigate it properly.
Spirituality recognizes that I don’t know how to competently live out commitment to God.
*The messiness of our spirituality affirms our spiritual clumsiness.

Did you know that Jesus responded to desire?
He responded to those who interrupted Him, yelled at Him, touched Him, screamed obscenities at Him, barged in on Him, crashed through ceilings to get to Him.
JESUS CARES MORE ABOUT DESIRE THAN ABOUT COMPETENCE.


SMALL GROUP QUESTIONS:
WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THIS QUOTE?
‘Spirituality is home to those who don’t have life figured out, who don’t know the Bible as well as they could, and who don’t have their spiritual lives all together.’
DO YOU THINK IT’S TRUE? WHY OR WHY NOT?

DO YOU THINK THERE’S AN ‘UNWRITTEN RULE’ AMONG CHRISTIANITY?
There exists an unwritten rule in some religious circles: pretend.
Give the impression everything is okay in your life when it’s not.
Pretend you believe when you doubt; hide your imperfections; maintain the image and don’t admit you sin or struggle with temptations.

DO YOU THINK THAT PRETENDING IS THE GREASE OF ALL MODERN ‘NON-RELATIONSHIPS?’
Pretending perpetuates the illusion of relationships by connecting us on the basis of who we aren’t. Therefore, people who pretend have pretend relationships.

WHY DO YOU THINK IT’S SO HARD TO BE ‘REAL’ AND HONEST WITH OTHERS?
Is it because ‘being real and honest means our messiness is there for everyone to see?’
READ ROMANS 3:10

DO YOU AGREE THAT JESUS UNDERSTOOD ‘UNFINISHEDNESS?’
When He left the disciples they were confused, depressed, afraid, and doubtful.

DO YOU AGREE THAT JESUS/GOD RESPONDS TO DESIRE?
He responded to those who interrupted Him, yelled at Him, touched Him, screamed obscenities at Him, barged in on Him, crashed through ceilings to get to Him.
WHAT ARE YOUR DESIRES?

CHALLENGE:
READ ROMANS 8:26-28
WHAT ARE YOUR GRUMBLINGS?
WHAT IS IT THAT YOU CANNOT OR WILL NOT PUT INTO WORDS?