"Most of my life I heard the message loud and clear that Christianity was all about coloring within the lines and coloring well. If I was a good Christian, if I loved Jesus and wanted to please Him, if I read my Bible, prayed, and went to church, then I would get better and better at coloring. And if I lived a long and godly life, I would eventually be able to draw close to the perfect drawing.
Wherever that message came from, it was a lie. I am fifty-five years old, and my coloring still [goes outside the lines].
I believe God looks at my coloring and says, "Hmmmmmm. You certainly like the color green! Lots of passion in this stroke. I like it."
Even as I write these words, I can hear the "concern" of those who worry about others misunderstanding the gospel. "You're not suggesting, are you, that nothing matters to God? Certainly, God has standards!"
What I am suggesting is that God's grace is so outside the lines of our understanding that we can only stand in awe and wonder. Christianity is not about learning how to live within the lines; Christianity is about the joy of coloring. The grace of God is preposterous enough to accept as beautiful a coloring that anyone else would reject as ugly. The grace of God sees beyond the scribbling to the heart of the scribbler - a scribbler who is similar to two thieves who hung on crosses on either side of Jesus. One of the two asked Jesus to please accept his scribbled and sloppy life into the kingdom of God...and He did. Preposterous. And very good news for the rest of us scribblers."
- from Dangerous Wonder, Mike Yaconelli, p140-1
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