The phrase "coloring outside the lines" refers to the actions and disposition of folk who do not always function within the confines of that which is generally accepted. These folk are not inhibited by majority opinion. They are not controlled by what everyone else wishes them to think and do. They have a mind of their own.

For the most part, these are the people who give us new inventions. They challenge the way things have always been, offering us new ways of facing old problems. Creativity abounds when there is a willingness to color outside the lines. Sometimes the unusual and the unexpected can shock us out of the way things have always been to the way they can be better. As a society we are indebted to individuals and groups who have had the courage to challenge the status quo by offering a more hopeful and helpful way.

On the other hand, coloring outside the lines can be disastrous. Changing everything does not necessarily represent a better way. People who are different just for the sake of being different are not always different for the right reasons. Some folk who color outside the lines are obnoxious and difficult, while others are vain and vulgar. There are some things which are tried and true for the centuries. Our world has some absolutes from which we deviate at our own peril. We do not experiment with moral and ethical behavior. We cannot produce a better society by total replacement. We build upon sound structures by changing only that which has served its effectiveness or that which tends to demoralize and destroy. It is wrong to treat an ingrown toenail by amputating the leg.

In many ways Jesus colored outside the lines. He colored outside the lines in terms of outmoded religious customs. He dealt differently with sinners, Samaritans, women, and other folk of lesser standing. Jesus colored outside the lines when it came to such things as love, forgiveness, prayer, worship, sacrifice and grace. He was not a conventional Rabbi nor was He an acceptable prophet in most people's eyes. Yet, He did not come to destroy the law or the prophets but to fulfill them.

Let us, therefore, be courageous enough to "color outside the lines" when the issues are right versus wrong. Let us "color outside the lines" when there is a need for reformation change. Let us not "color outside the lines," however, just to be obnoxious and difficult.