Color Inside the Lines

Last night I enjoyed dinner with Brenda and the boys here in Ruidoso. At a table next to ours I overheard a grandfather telling his granddaughter who was coloring a picture to make sure to color inside the lines. I immediately bristled to such a statement.

All of my life I have been taught to color inside the lines. Translation for me? Conform. Be safe. Be predictable. Think inside the box. BORRINGGGGGGGGGG! I have behind the scenes always encouraged my boys to color outside the lines. To think outside the box. To be willing to risk for the glory of God. Not to mindlessly conform.

I know this does not set well with all of you who want your worlds ordered, neat, predictable, routine, and manageable. You may get good grades in school for coloring inside the lines but does this foster thinking? Does this always lead to the best solutions to the most difficult problems? Instead of thinking through issues it is easier to color inside the lines by giving the instructor what they want to hear or are used to hearing. Is there only way to get to the solution?

Color inside the lines people can be dogmatic, adverse to risk taking, and less willing to step of their comfort zones. How does such a mentality square with Jesus’ call on our lives to live by faith? To live by faith is to color outside the lines. It is to believe Him for the impossible. It is to trust there is a way to see the impossible made possible. The Great Commission is coloring outside the lines. It is taking the gospel to culturally adverse nations at great peril. If people live their lives coloring inside the lines the gospel will never be taken to the unreached people groups.

I for one advocate coloring outside the lines. Yes, I agree the paper is not as neat. I also agree to color outside the lines may mean you are misunderstood and under appreciated. Coloring outside the lines typically does not win the prize. Our world is filled with the predictable and people who conform mindlessly at home and work. Students do what they have to do to keep parents off their backs or to pass the class. Employees routinely fulfill tasks for their employers without passion or excellence. They are just working for a paycheck. Pastors preach to pacify the congregation rather than transform their cities.

While this cycle repeats itself day in and day out God has set aside some dreamers. These dreamers continually ask the questions, “Why is it impossible? Why can’t this problem be solved? Why can’t this need be met? Why does it have to be done this way? Why do we have to color inside the lines of someone else’s imagination?” Dreamers often upset the apple cart. They are seldom pacified with threats to conform. Jesus did not conform. The disciples did not conform. Polycarp did not conform. Martin Luther did not conform nor did John Wesley or D.L. Moody. Billy Graham did not conform and neither did Martin Luther King Jr. These servants of the Most High God colored outside the lines of culture and were often ill treated as a result.

Even the threats and intimidation of those in authority did not force these men to color inside the lines. God put vision in their hearts and they followed that vision swimming against the current of cultural conformity. They stood for timeless truth and not for coloring inside the lines of tradition and the prevailing political and religious whelms of the day.

Was there a price to pay for coloring and living outside the lines? Yes. Jesus was crucified. Many of the disciples died violent martyr’s deaths. Polycarp died at the sword after not being consumed by fire when tied to a stake. Luther lived out many of his days as a wanted man for his preaching and writing. Wesley often had rocks and dung thrown at him while preaching. Moody experienced rejection in many towns. Graham was criticized for his stance against racism. King was gunned down for fighting for racial equality among African Americans.

Come what may I intend to live the rest of my life outside the lines. Many will not like it and I will have to live with the consequences. I will encourage others to do the same. I will not be another mindless sheep being herded into conformity by the experts or authorities. I will be herded by the Great Shepherd and empowered and released by Him to change the world one heart at a time. I will live outside the lines; not in rebellion and defiance but in standing for truth and believing God to do impossible things.

I think back to that little girl being chided by her grandfather to color inside the lines. I think back on the number of times Brenda and I have disagreed with the boys when she wanted them to color neatly inside the lines and when I challenged time to color outside the lines. Brenda is a conformist. I am a rebel. Somehow God makes it work. We will never agree and have therefore agreed to disagree on this matter. So boys, COLOR OUTSIDE THE LINES!