People love labels. We love adjectives and stereotypes, I've noticed. One person I know, every time they see me, says "Oh, but you're quite [meaningless adjective]." One lecturer wanted us to stand up and say what animal we were because our choices apparently revealed some kind of psychological identity conflict. But you know... No matter how many adjectives cover a jam jar, nothing can take the place of the sweet, sugary, strawberry experience of it melting into my tongue. Of course, adjectives have their place. There are adjectives in the bible. But not that many. "And so, a cleaned baby was laid into a perfectly sized, splinter-free manger whilst two jersey cows looked on." Uh no. How about: "And so God came to the earth as a human being." BOOOOOM! Earth shakes! Minds explode! The bible does have beautiful words but it's a deeper beauty that comes from truth, not just decorative language. None of it distracts from the facts.What I'm getting at is this. Why do we put limits everywhere? God is limitless. And He never saved you to live a cubicle Christianity, walled in by rules, other people's stereotypes and low standards. "You have brought me into a spacious place because you delighted in me" [1]. What you think is 5 seconds is actually a way, way longer 5 minutes! And more! God, your Father, wants to blow your mind with his limitless love. Our way of human thinking about our lives is like a child thinking she can count minutes like she counts marbles. God doesn't think about your life or future the way you do, thankfully!
My hope today is that through reading the Bible we will see how big this thing is, that we wouldn't be conformed to certain patterns of thinking but allow our minds to be renewed [2]. And when we pray, we'd open our heart for God to inspire us into higher ways of thinking and living.
[1] Psalm 18:19
[2] Romans 12:2
