Coloring Outside the Lines

Recently, I bought something I haven't had in years... a coloring book. You read that right. I probably need to turn in my Man Card.

But it's not just any coloring book. It's an "adult coloring book." Maybe you've heard of this phenomenon. My wife told me about it. Described as "art therapy," the book is a series of intricate drawings and patterns that serve as a form of relaxation and stress relief. No guidelines, no set pattern, just free coloring.

Still not convinced? I wasn't either at first. Then I read the back of the book.

By concentrating on a straightforward task and allowing you complete creative freedom, you will soon find your body and mind relaxing. Our intricate line drawings offer complexity to engage the adult brain, but also simplicity, in that there are no rules or even guidelines; you are completely free.

Then I got it. This simple little book offers something that we all long for but can never get. Did you catch it?

"Complete creative freedom."

"No rules or even guidelines."

"You are completely free."

I get now why this activity is so relaxing. I understand why it is so calming. Where else can you find total freedom?

Let's be honest. The world is long on rules and short on freedom. There's always more errands to run, more bills to pay, more hoops to jump through. We face a constant set of deadlines to meet and people to please.

Indeed, that last one may be the worst. If we're honest with ourselves, we spend a great majority of our lives trying to live up to the expectations of others... parents, spouses, family, friends, neighbors, rivals. We make decisions based on what someone else will think. We strive for success in order to receive validation, respect, and worth from others. Sin itself can be defined as something we do in order to achieve for ourselves something that only God can give us.

Life is a tireless wheel on which we, the pitiful, stressed-out mice, run incessantly, longing for a break.

Conditionality is everywhere. Work hard and you'll be rewarded. Pay your bills or you'll be on the street. Straighten up or you'll end up just like your father. Desire God more than anything else, or you're not a Christian. (Yep, I'm still fired up about that tweet I talked about last week).

Conditionality... you find it in church too.

For many Christians, church has become a place to receive even more rules and guidelines. God has become just someone else to please and placate. Weary, broken-down congregants drag themselves to  a church service, looking for any kind of hope. They cling to the pew in front of them, praying that the preacher will give them some shred of good news... and they don't get it.

Instead, they get a checklist. More hoops to jump through. More conditionality. What's interesting is that it's a conditionality of behavior masked in the guise of unconditionality. It's presented in the terms of "Jesus loves you unconditionally. Now don't let it go to your head. Straighten up!" People are told what to do, what not to do, how to think, who to vote for, what to boycott, and how to live in such a way as to "bring down God's blessing." You know it's true. I have literally left church with a checklist in my hand of ten principles to apply that week.

Oh, and if that's not enough, I can go to Twitter and get told by some really famous preachers some more things to feel guilty about.

The rat race never stops.

Well, it does for some people. People are leaving the church in droves. They're tired. They're not running from God's love. They're not running from God's desire for people to change. They're running from man's presentation of a works-centered Christianity.

What's even more interesting is that there's often a disconnect between the music and the sermon. It's not at all uncommon for the music portion of a service to proclaim the love and grace of Jesus, the freedom from sin that He offers. The preacher then undoes all of this in one fell swoop.

My friends, it ought not be so! The human heart longs for freedom. Jesus offers it. It looks for unconditional acceptance. Jesus offers it. The human heart longs for one, just one, opportunity to be at peace. Without any expectations, any strings attached. Jesus offers it through grace.

Here's the truth: Jesus sets you free. Period. Free from your sin. Free from the need to pursue acceptance through things smaller than God. Free from conditionality.

He offers it, no strings attached. None.

That makes you uncomfortable. You want to put the brakes on grace. You're afraid of people "sining so that grace may abound." You're afraid I'm peddling some sort of "cheap grace." I've heard all that before. As Steve Brown says, "Grace isn't cheap. It's free. If it wasn't, you could afford it."

What about morality? What about serving God? What about sanctification? Before you can deal with ANY of those things, you have to be free, and you have to know you're free.

So let me give you a verse.

Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. - Romans 5:1-2 (NKJV)

If you've been justified by faith in Jesus, you are at peace with God. Period. Through Jesus, you already have what you're looking for in millions of other things smaller than God: unconditional, total, perfect acceptance and worth.

So go ahead. Relax, color outside the lines. You are loved. You are free.