I need squiggly lines

Posted by Alan Knox on Oct 19, 2009 in discipleship | 3 comments

I realize now that I need squiggly lines in my life. In fact, looking back, I think my life would have been much better if I had had squiggly lines from the beginning.

You know what I mean by squiggly lines, right?

Have you ever been typing along and suddenly the word that you just finished typing is underlined with a red squiggly line? (Yes, I know some software now uses dotted lines.) When you right click on the word, the software gives you a few choices of correctly spelled words. You click on your choice, and instantly your typo has been corrected.

Or, have you ever been typing a sentence when suddenly the entire sentence is underlined by a green squiggly line? Again, when you right click on the sentence, the software tells you what grammatical error you’ve made. You can then click its suggested changes or you can make the changes yourself.

I need those squiggly lines in my life.

It’s true. Looking back, I can see that I made some terrible mistakes in my life. I wish that my life had been underlined by squiggly lines then so that I would know that something was wrong.

Just imagine… you make a decision, or you’re about to do something, or you choose not to do something, and suddenly a squiggly line appears in your life. You check out the squiggly line and you find out that you’ve made a mistake which can then be corrected before there is any more damage.

That’s what I need. I need those squiggly lines. There are too many times when I’ve gone in the wrong direction, or I’ve done the wrong thing, or I haven’t done something that I should have done. Yes, I know that God still loves me and that God still uses me and that I’m not a failure. That’s not the point. The point is that my life would have been more full, more abundant, more Christ-like, if I had squiggly lines to warn me about the upcoming mistakes.

Of course, I have something better than squiggly lines. I’m indwelled by the Holy Spirit. Sometimes those squiggly lines are wrong, but the Spirit is never wrong. God has promised to guide me into all truth by his Spirit. He has promised to empower me and serve other through me by his Spirit. He has promised to show me the way out of temptation by his Spirit. He has even promised to tell me what to say by his Spirit.

Now that I think about it, the Spirit is much better than squiggly lines… assuming that I pay attention to him.