Are we proud of our messiness?

Robin Lee Hatcher offers some trenchant observations about "messy" Christians:

I'm distressed by what seems to be a trend of Christian believers reveling in their messiness, in their imperfections, holding them up as a sort of badge of honor or something. Almost enjoying the fact that they are so much like those who don't know God. What's with that? What's with picking and choosing what we will accept out of the Bible, as if our freedom in Christ gives us the right to say to God, "That doesn't fit into my politics (or whatever) so I'm going to ignore it"?

My Bible tells me that as Christ's disciple I am to become more and more conformed to the image of God's Son. I'm told I'm being changed from glory to glory. I'm told that I'm not yet what I should be but, thank God, I'm not what I used to be. The New Testament is pretty clear about a lot of things a child of God should/must do and another list of things a child of God shouldn't/mustn't do. Most of those things aren't subject to interpretation. They're quite clear. So when we read them and know we aren't doing what we should do and/or that we are doing what we shouldn't do, shouldn't we be on our knees, asking God to change us?

I think we should.

Hat tip: John Schroeder at Blogotional.