Jesus is not Afraid of Our Mess

by Chuck Adair on December 16, 2025

Jesus is not Afraid of Our Mess

Read Luke 2:6-7

Today’s Truth

Despite what nativities convey, Jesus’ birth was anything but picturesque. Imagine a barn or even a cave complete with farming implements, feeding troughs, and manure. This dark and dirty place is hardly what we’d expect for our Messiah’s royal birthplace. The location of Jesus’ birth says so much about the kind of life Jesus would lead.

Discussion Questions

How did Jesus turn the Samaritan Woman’s mess into a message?
What does it mean to be a minister of reconciliation?
How have you seen God meet you in messy situations?

Application

In His thirty-three years, Jesus never shied away from messy situations or messy people. Sinners of all kinds found Jesus’ love and grace readily available. Jesus’ birth reminds us that God isn’t afraid to enter a mess. Again and again, Jesus meets people in their mess and turns their mess into a message.

Tags: christmas, advent

About the Author

Chuck Adair

If you ask Chuck his favorite thing in life to do, he would tell you it is the teaching and preaching of the scriptures and to call all people to engage in the great adventure of abiding with Christ. He desires to connect people with the richness, adventure, and fullness of life that comes through Christ alone and to reach the unchurched, de-churched, dead-churched, and unmoved. Chuck is married to his best friend Kristin and has two adult children, Taylor and Linley. Kris and Chuck believe the quality of their marriage rises and falls, not on circumstances or feelings, but based on their daily abiding with Jesus (Jn 15.5).

Jesus is not Afraid of Our Mess