Outside the Lines

I came across a quote that caught my attention today. It went like this....

"Grace does not exist to make us successful. God's grace exists to point people to a love like no other love they have ever known. A love outside the lines." (by Mike Yaconelli in Dangerous Wonder)

From the time we are children we are encouraged to stay within the lines. We are given pictures to color and we are often chastised if we color outside the lines. So we grow up trying to keep within the lines whether we are coloring or trying to live our lives.

In the same way we often grow up with our view of God inside a box of our minds' construction or from teaching we have received. But when you really think about it. If our view and understanding of God can fit in a box then we have a really small and ineffective God because we stumble over it if something happens to show us a picture of God that is outside of our box.

So I think that if I really want to grow and continue to be a work in progress I need to break down the sides of the God box I have created and let God out to be who and what He really is. Then I can also start living my life outside of the lines I thought I need to hide behind.

So I encourage you to take that step outside the lines and live in the freedom God has planned and provided for us from before creation.

I'll see you outside the lines.