Love Inside the Lines

 As with most of us, when I was a child and given a coloring book, I was always told, "You need to color inside the lines!".  I mean, it makes sense.  Part of the beauty of art is seen in a certain amount of order and symmetry.  In order for some things to be recognizable the way we tend to see things, the colors stay within the applicable borders.  Puffy clouds in the blue sky are recognizable because the white is in the clouds and the sky remains blue.  In the spring, greens stay within the lines of the shapes of "leaf" in order for the leaf to maintain it's 'leafness' and be seen as leaf.  The Designer and artist seems to have been intentional with such things.

When the boys were small, they were allowed to play in the back yard as long as they stayed inside the fence.  They could play in the front yard as long a they didn't go past the sidewalk.  My oldest compliant child didn't get close to the edge of the sidewalk.  My unique middle child would see how close his toes could get to the edge without going over.  My laid back youngest would sit back, watch, and be entertained.  

That's the way most of us tend to love.  Certain boundary markers are established and property lines drawn in which love may be freely given and received.  I will love you as long as you are inside those lines.  In other words, I will love you IF:

-You are like me

-You have the same skin color

-You have the same beliefs

-You vote for the same political party as me

-You agree with me...in everything...or at least the essential things

-You talk like me

-You have similar morals

-You love me first

Love defined always has been and always will be the One who made us.  The bible says, God is love.  If God used the same criteria for loving us, we'd be in deep weeds.  We would be in deep weeds just like those around us because that's the way we tend to love.  Those who don't meet our criteria, or who won't come play in our back yard are out in the cold.  God's love extends beyond the lines we draw. It goes beyond the sidewalk and outside of the fenced back yard.  His love reaches literally every one.  That is so difficult for us to understand that He loves the most evil individual that ever existed as much as He loves us.  

We tend to confuse love with salvation.  Salvation has to be accepted by faith. His love isn't contingent upon our receiving it.  We don't naturally love that way.

-I'll only do a good job if my employer is treating me right. 

-I'll only hug him if he hugs me first.

-I'll only do something for her if she does something for me.

-If I don't get loved in return, I'm shutting him off.

-I will only extend love if it will help me get a promotion or a raise.

That's not love.  Love simply...loves.  Regardless of anything else.

Love initiates.  Love doesn't wait to act until another initiates.  If we're loving inside the lines, we're limiting what amazing things God can do through your one life.  You're limiting the number of people He can impact through you.  You are limiting the adventure of living beyond the edge!

But loving like that is impossible!  You're right!  Tell me what of all of the things that Jesus tells us to do is possible?  When you realize you cannot do thing things Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount is the day your life will change for the better.  If it were all possible to do, we wouldn't need Him.  We have to come to Him empty handed and say, "Lord, love people through me. Not just the people who are easy to love, not just the people who love me first, not just the people I stand to benefit from or from whom I receive something in return.  Love people through me with your love."  It's only by His power working through you that you can love like he does.  

You first have to first know, believe, and accept the truth that you're loved.  1 John 4:19 says, "We love because He first loved us."  This is where it starts.  You can't pour a refreshing drink from an empty pitcher.  When that pitcher is full and you discover it never gets empty, you can always pour and never worry about running out. 

Also make sure you ask for healing for your wounds.  Hurting people hurt people. As after surgery, healing takes time.  The deeper the wound, the longer it has existed, the more time is likely necessary. That doesn't mean to wait until you are healed to start loving. Sometimes selfless acts of love are best for accelerating healing!

I hesitate to say the following because some will use it as an excuse to maintain our 'love with borders' mentality:  This doesn't mean that love shouldn't have boundaries.  Fixing people is not your job. Loving them is.  Being an enabler isn't loving.  Losing your uniqueness (your true self) should never happen.  This is not love.  But we must still ignore most of the lines and color away!

"Deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow me"  Selfishness has to be killed, or love can't live and flourish.  

He gives us permission to love outside the lines, so let's do it! He wants us to love irrationally! Love out of control! Go crazy coloring and splash that paint!

1 Corinthians 13:4-8

4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8 Love never fails.