Color Outside the Lines

As an oldest child I learned and loved to color inside the lines. Following the rules always made perfectly good sense to me, let’s face it you do what mom and dad say and you will not spend much time with the “board of education” if you know what I mean. For the younger generation, the “board of education” would be the equivalent of “time out” on steroids, plus it hurt.

Following the rules has its place, especially if you are in charge of a preschool class, but I have also learned that at times coloring outside the lines makes for a much more vivid and beautiful world.

Let me introduce you to a very unlikely hero. When she was in school she told her friends that the D. in her name stood for “devil” and some of them believed. She would often attend church services to poke fun at the preacher and his sermon while her friends giggled. While attending a Christian school she skipped chapel twenty-six times (at least) and as a child would often sneak out of church and go home to read Shakespeare instead of Psalms. Let’s face it at Christmas time, good old Saint Nick would put her name on the “naughty not nice” list. So who is the young lady who loved to color outside the lines? You will probably be surprised? This little “devil” grew up to become one of the great names of the Christian faith. You know her as Lottie Moon, her parents named her Charlotte Diggs Moon. Yes, little Lottie Moon who only stood 4’3’’ tall casts a shadow that still shapes the world today.

The fact that even after Lottie Moon put her faith and trust in Jesus as her Lord she continued to color outside the lines inspires me to this day. She followed hard after Christ with a passion and abandonment that rocked the world she sought to change. Her passion for adventure and her courageous spirit changed the face of China and has a lasting influence today some two hundred years after she died aboard a ship in the harbor of Kobe, Japan on her way home on Christmas Eve 1912.

So how did this little missionary cast such a big shadow? I suspect she took to heart the admonition of Jesus which states:

“Neither is new wine put into old wineskins. If it is, the skins burst and the wine is spilled and the skins are destroyed. But new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved.” (Matthew 9:17 ESV)

Yes, even Jesus our Lord recognized the value of coloring outside the lines.

Let me share with you a couple revolutionary changes little Lottie inspired and pursued. First, she believed the daughters of God could change the world. She believed girls could make a big difference in the world and not just in the kitchen. Lottie Moon was born into a world where too often women were seen but not heard, but God had given her a voice and she used that voice to glorify God and to preach His gospel. Yes, I used the word preach, but I have to be honest, one of the reasons Lottie loved China revolved around the freedom she found there to preach and share Jesus. From baking cookies to start conversations to going door to door talking about Jesus, Lottie could not be kept silent. I hope my girls grow up like her!

Second, Lottie realized that to enter the Kingdom of God you did not have to become an American, or take on the styles and customs of Western civilization but rather one must follow Jesus. Upon arriving in China, she began to dress like the Chinese, eat like the Chinese, and live like her friends and neighbors so they would soon come to realize Jesus came for all the nations of the world. Her methods were controversial, revolutionary, and powerful. It is little wonder after her death, the Woman’s Missionary Union named its Christmas Offering for International Missions after her.

This year when you give to the Lottie Moon offering realize you make it possible for another generation of missionaries to color outside the lines for the glory of God.

Daily Affirmation: Psalm 37:4

Teenagers enjoy such an interesting and at times inspiring perception of life. Of course, they are just old enough to think they get it, and too young to realize they know far less than they think. During my teenage years I began my spiritual quest in earnest. I longed to silence the secret struggles of my soul with passions that seemed to be strong than my will, and to find a peace that could sustain me in the relentless pressure to mold myself into the image designed for me by others so I could fit in and be “happy” like everyone appeared to be.

One day in my devotional time or “quiet time” as Larry Sims, my youth minister called it, I stumbled across a verse in Psalm that appeared at first glance to like finding a credit card with an unlimited balance to be used to satisfy my wants and whims.

The Psalmist wrote:

Delight yourself in the Lord,
    and he will give you the desires of your heart. (Psalm 37:4 ESV)

At first glance through the depth of the eyes of a teenager, it appears the LORD had just promised me anything I wanted if I long to delight in Him. Immediately I had visions of a new car to replace my 1967 American Rambler that did not even have a radio, and a beautiful girlfriend on my arm who laughed at my jokes and thought I was truly amazing as she hung on my every word with a glow on her face. I could already see her beautiful long hair blowing in the wind as we drove to school in my bright red Mustang convertible. I even looked good in my new preppy clothes like the guys in the magazines besides my voice lowered and I actually had stubble on my baby face. At least for a few minutes I enjoyed the fantasy, but down deep inside it seems to be a bit shallow and out of step with the Jesus I had come to know who called me saying, “Deny yourself, take up your cross daily and follow me.” Where was I going to put my cross in my new convertible?

At this point, I suspect the Holy Spirit nudged me back to reality and I look a bit closer at the text, and found treasure beneath the surface. If I delight in the LORD with all my heart and soul how in the world would I be satisfied with play things when I could have the real deal a close, personal intimate relationship with my creator and God–my Savior and LORD. Yes, it dawned on me that those who delight in the more receive more and more of His presence, power, and glory in their lives. They see His fingers prints all around them, and the long for His voice and the guiding touch of His Spirit.

Even as a doubt teenager enslaved by hormones I decided I wanted more than the toys, and I wanted the treasure hidden in the field. I wanted more and more of Jesus in my life. This desire though often distracted by the glitter has not wavered. I still long to experience life as it was meant to be by delighting in the LORD.

So today, choose to delight in the LORD and open your heart and eyes to witness Him filling you with more and more of His presence and power. Don’t settle for the toys when you can enjoy the lasting treasure of His smile.