CHAOS

YEARS ago, mental institutions were crude in working with people who were disturbed. In Europe, a particular sanitarium had a very antiquated way of determining whether an inmate was sane enough to be released back into society. They would put the patient into a janitor’s closet. Then they’d put a stopper in the sink and turn on the water. The water would eventually overflow and the inmate would be given a mop and told to clean up the mess. For about five minutes or so, the person would be left in the closet alone, and then a doctor would come back to check on him. If he was mopping the floor with the water still running, the doctor would know that the patient was not ready to go anywhere because he did not make the connection and fix the root of the problem. That patient would not be declared sane.

Many people today are trying to mop up messes in their lives, families, or circumstances and they are mopping hard! The problem is that, even with all of that effort, there is still a mess because no connection has been made between the cause and effect of the situation. We must start with the cause or else we will forever be cleaning up. We’ll forever be mopping but things will not get clean and dry.65

Matt. 23:25–27

A FATHER wanted to give his daughter something to do and there was a picture of the world on a sheet of paper. He tore it into smaller pieces and told her to see if she could put the pieces back together correctly, kind of like she would work a puzzle. The little girl agreed. Five minutes later, she showed her father the pieces put back together perfectly. He was stupefied. When he asked her how she had done the task so quickly, she said, “Oh, on the back was a picture of Jesus and I figured if I got Him right, the world would fall into place.” Our worlds are in chaos because we aren’t focused on getting Jesus right first.66

Eph. 2:11–13