KITTY PICTURES
I'm not known for my skills in interpreting abstract art. Which explains why I didn't immediately recognize the picture above as a "Kitty." When my granddaughter Kylie was two, she handed me this drawing. "What is it?" I inquired.
Rolling her eyes, she replied, "A kitty."
Guess what I told her? "That doesn't look like a kitty! If you can't do better than that, don't even try!" Of course, that's NOT what I said at all! At the tender age of two, she had done her very best, and wanted to bless me with this masterful work of art.
Instead, I took one look at it, and with a heart filled with love, replied, "Oh honey. Thank you so much! It's a beautiful kitty!" Lifting her up, we marched over to the fridge and ceremoniously displayed the masterpiece for all to see.
That got me thinking. We bring God our "works of art" (financial offerings, good deeds, etc.), convinced that we've done something really great for Him. Yet my very best efforts have a strange resemblance to Kylie's "Kitty." But does that matter to our Father? No. The Great I Am, Creator of the Universe, takes one look at it and replies, "Thank you my child." Hugging us, he places it on His "fridge."
Face it. God doesn't need our "Kitty pictures". He desires our hearts; our devotion to Him. In Psalm 51:16-17, David writes, "The source of your pleasure is not in my performance or the sacrifices I might offer to you. The fountain of your pleasure is found in the sacrifice of my shattered heart before you. You will not despise my tenderness as I humbly bow down at your feet.” (TPT)
It wasn't the quality of Kylie's art that touched me. Her heart was stirred to present me with a gift...and my heart was stirred because her heart was stirred. Long ago, her picture ceased to inhabit the domain of our refrigerator. But I still possess it, and on occasion, I pull it from a file to remember her gift. It still puts a smile on my face as I recall her love. I'm confident our Lord does the same with our "kitty" pictures.
In what ways do I get caught up in the trap of religious performance (trusting in my "kitty pictures" to earn God's love)?
"Lord, thank you that your acceptance of me is not based on me 'getting it right'."