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Well, this book went much faster than Mere Christianity. It’s not because it’s a boring book, or because it doesn’t challenge you… it’s just a much easier read than C.S. Lewis’ highly intellectual writing style. Not to mention, at only 174 pages, it’s not exactly an encyclopedia.

At this point in my life, there is no longer any question as to whether or not God is trying to show me something. I asked Mark for a book that he thought was fantastic, and that he thought would be good for me to read… he gave me Mere Christianity. I asked Ben for a book by Donald Miller, instead he gave me This Beautiful Mess. Neither of these books did I ask for by name, but both of them have come at a crucial point in my life, a point where I really needed to read what they had to say.

A lot of the themes of Mere Christianity were repeated in This Beautiful Mess. Things about charity in particular. Since I am condensing this book into only one post, I am only going to share a couple of the bigger revelations and quotes I got out of the book.

A portion of the description on the back of the book says:

A new generation is tuning in to the teachings of Jesus and to their revolutionary implications. Could it be that living under Christ’s reign is not merely a future vision but a present reality?

That really sums up the point of the whole book. Rick McKinley takes you on a journey, showing you how to look for the Kingdom of God here in the present, instead of merely waiting for it to come later.

In chapter five, McKinley begins to talk about a “levels spirituality.” That so many churches these days have so many complicated programs to try and bring up people to a deeper sense of faith. He says that so many Christians tend to think of their faith as a level-based system, things they “have to do” to get closer to God… everything depends on what we do. “If I work hard and do the right things, I can advance to the next level.” Then, McKinley says this:

Our world is focused on self; the kingdom is about the other. It demands that I notice others, love others, pray for them and serve them. ‘Levels spirituality’ does not. It allows me to do it myself, by myself.

Jesus hates levels spirituality. All it does is reinforce the lie that started way back in the beginning — the one that says I can be like God. How screwed up have we gotten that we cling to a Christianity that can be lived out without God?

Pretty screwed up.

Yeah! That’s what I’m talking about! This completely reinforces the idea of living “me for you” instead of “me for me” that I have been working through lately. He goes on to say:

To hell with the levels.

That is basically what Jesus has to say about it. Of course, it’s not that He doesn’t want communities of believers to grow and have influence. But there’s no ladder. There’s nothing we need to do to make the kingdom happen at our churches/communities. No day will come when we’ll get to the top and receive our gold star. Why?

Because there is no top.

I know for me, I struggle with this idea of “levels.” I sometimes find myself wanting to know exactly what I need to do to advance to the next level, whether it be in my marriage, my friendships, my work, whatever… and sometimes I’m not sure it helps.

Next are some quotes on relevance.

When we study scripture, we find that relevance happens naturally when we choose to be real people caring for other real people.

Authentic relationships make us relevant.

We don’t have to work at being relevant because love given without any other agenda is always relevant. Relevance comes from relationship — it means we matter to someone, he or she matters to us, and we both know it.

This, I am completely guilty of overlooking. For the longest time I have interpreted being a Church and/or community relevant to todays society was all about looking cool, having great bands playing really great sounding music over a really expensive sound system on a stage with really sweet moving lights with screens behind them showing really cool videos. Turns out, that the most important way we can be relevant in todays society is through our relationships with others. That should save some money in the long run…

Finally, because I don’t want to give the whole book away… this on simplicity:

We’re finding that the genius of the kingdom is nearly always in it’s simplicity. We keep asking: What’s the need? And how can we meet it simply? And there might be no simpler or more powerful way to be a signpost for the kingdom than to share a meal together…

…What would happen if you put another chair around your table at mealtime and asked God to open your eyes to who you should invite to join you?

All in all, this was a very powerful book. It really challenges you to live more in the moment, live in the Kingdom of God now, instead of apathetically going through life waiting for it to come for you.

There was some amazing stuff in this book about loving and nurturing our environment as well that I absolutely loved, but I’ll save my rant on that for another day.