Blurred Lines
If you are looking to develop patience, try teaching a child to color. You and I see a simple task bound by lines on white paper. The choice we are faced with is what color I shall choose. The child simply sees a blank canvas.
No color is wrong.
No line is a boundary.
In fact a crayon can be replaced by a colored pencil, or water colors, or even play doh… who wouldn’t want a 3d picture!
At what point do we go from the wonder of art to being bound by the lines?
At what age do we stop seeing the potential and only see the picture.
When do the lines become real and when do they gain authority?
It’s an interesting thought isn’t it? In my thoughts I can come up with three answers:
The lines have authority when you respect the author who placed the lines there.
The lines have authority when you respect the one who directed you to color.
The lines have authority when you respect the picture that the lines make.
We are taught to stay inside the lines. It is not a natural skill; instead it is a taught and planned ability.
Faith is the same way. In times of transition we are often quoted Jeremiah 29 :11 (ESV)
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.
It’s comforting to know that God has a plan for us. A design for us to color inside. I want to ask you though…do you know what the verse before says.
“For thus says the Lord: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place.”
Jeremiah spoke verse 10 and 11 to a group of people about to be taken into exile. The lines they thought were on their paper were about to be radically redefined.
Verse 10 says not just the plan, but the canvas is changing.
verse 11 says trust the artist, and give Him authority.
So I am not going to tell you to stay inside the lines. I am not going to tell you how you should color, or what you should color with.
But I will encourage you to go back and look at those three answers I gave, and now take a moment and reflect on the picture your life is painting.
Your plan is to be a picture of his providence.
-Pastor Dan