Book Review: Messy Spirituality by Michael Yaconelli

Is there anything better than knowing we can be ourselves, completely and unabashedly, and still be accepted and loved by God? Sometimes this seems like a difficult concept to get my head around. The Christian molds that we are to conform to, or change ourselves to fit in, are everywhere. And most importantly, we are expected to look good, perfect actually, doing it. Michael Yaconelli challenges the idea of "perfectness" in his book, Messy Spirituality. No one ever said Christianity was going to be easy, and no one said it would be especially neat either.

I loved the stories he shared, of people in his life that were very close to God, but that were a terrible mess. These people were still God-loving, God-seeking, and God-fearing people but had not a clue how to be a "good" Christian. They were just being a Christian the best way they knew how. And isn't that what we all strive for? Yaconelli talks about how there really is no specific recipe or guidelines to follow. Christians have been told for years that it takes one part fellowship, one part church every Sunday morning, one part devotions, and one part prayer and mix it all together for the perfect Christian life. But Yaconelli sheds light on the fact that this recipe doesn't work for every Christian and THAT'S OK. We are no less of a Christian and definitely not less loved by God if we don't follow that recipe to the tee. Sin is prevalent in our lives on a daily basis and try as we might, we may not be where we want to be, or where others expect us to be, in the battle against sin. But we can still be who God created us to be, we can still have a relationship with God, and we can continue to be messy because we are thankfully given God's grace in the midst of our messiness.

I struggled, at first, with the lack of reporting on personal responsiblity for our sins in this book. I read several reviews before writing this that talked about this book giving people a "free pass" to sin. After thinking about it for a while, I don't think that was Yaconelli's intent nor his personal belief. What I think he was trying to stress was that we strive to do right by God but because of sin in the world we stumble. And then because of the expectations put on us we are supposed to repent and then change our behavior and not sin that way ever again. But honestly, how often does this happen? How often does this recipe get shoved in our face and how often is it followed correctly? How often are we so radically transformed that we no longer sin?

I'd like to be able to say that it happens all of the time. And maybe sometimes it does. But I can speak from experience-it doesn't in my life. I try. And I fail. I try again. And yet, I fail again. If we are trying to acknowledge that we are messy people, spiritually, and fully accept that in our hearts and minds-that's a lifetime of work all in itself. And that was Yaconelli's point. The idea of a perfect Christian is so unattainable yet we still strive for that and fail. If we know we're going to fail why don't we focus on the acceptance of failing instead of focusing on the negative behavior. Change isn't always easy, especially when it is an ingrained behavior. Why do we hold ourselves up to such high standards for change just because we're Christians? We can always strive to be better, I don't think that message is lost. But when we invariably fall? God's grace is there to catch us. Each and every time. Whether we've been striving to be better or not.

There's a verse in Romans 12 that talks about renewing ourselves, our minds, in God. We are given a new chance with God to live a life according to his commands. We are to let go of our past ways and live a renewed life in God our Father. While this could have been a perfectly fitting verse to dissect further in Yaconelli's book, I think it would have diminished the importance of his topic of grace.

I know I struggle with my own preconceived ideas of what I should do or say or look like because I'm a Christian. Yaconelli says that this is commonplace among Christians. It was very refreshing and liberating for him to say that I can be loved and still receive God's grace even when I feel I don't measure up. By no means am I going to start sinning more or not repent for when I do sin, in fact I think it allows for more freedom to find my path alongside God, sin and all, than be boxed in to something I may never be. Maybe all of our spiritual walks do not look the same but isn't that why we were created as individuals in God's image?

I would recommend this book to Christians and especially non-Christians. It discusses the love that we are supposed to share with one another. It touches on the forgiveness and acceptance that we are supposed to show one another. It may be radical and not scriptural enough for some but hopefully for those some it will be mind-opening as well.