More of the Story: Outside of the Lines

For several days (Saul) was with the disciples in Damascus, and immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God.” All who heard him were amazed and said, “Is not this the man who made havoc in Jerusalem among those who invoked this name? And has he not come here for the purpose of bringing them bound before the chief priests?” Saul became increasingly more powerful and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus was the Messiah. ~ Acts 9:19b-22
The moment God is figured out with nice neat lines and definitions, we are no longer dealing with God. ~ Rob Bell, Velvet Elvis

If there has been a theme this week, maybe it is either "God comes to us in unexpected places" or "don't be so certain you are right, because when you are, God will show you otherwise!

 But I also like Rob Bell's version of this: God can't be figured out with neat lines and definitions.

 God is way more complicated than that!

 We tend to like easy answers.

 We tend to want to figure God out rather than let God be God.

 We tend to want God's spokespeople to fit into our neat lines and definitions as well.

 But they rarely do. Jesus sure didn't fit into any neat lines or definitions.

 Clearly here, neither did Saul/Paul.

 But then again, neither did Moses, or David, or Abraham, or Esther, or Ruth, or Elijah, or Jeremiah, or any of the Marys.

 Chances are, some of your pastor friends didn't as well. 

 Paul came from this most outside of the lines place you could, and confounded everyone. And by confounding everyone, he said: don't trust those neat lines or definitions.

 Instead, trust God. Because...Oh, man! What God can do with our messy lines and definitions is something awesome!
Prayer: Help me to color outside the lines, God! Amen







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