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We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are (Romans 3:22, NLT).
My wife loves cats, all things cats.
Years back, my wife and I were given a cat cookie jar – a large white cookie jar with a cat head as the lid and a frown on the face of the cat. This cat head lid glared at me every morning when I entered the kitchen.
The only redeeming quality of the cat cookie jar was, well, it was a cookie jar. I dislike cats, but I love cookies, so I had inner turmoil.
As a cookie-lover, I needed to lift the head of the cat. The cat head came off, revealing a cat body filled with cookies or a diminished supply depending on how often I’d lifted the cat head.
Which caused a problem since the cat head was unwieldy and could easily be dropped.
One day, the cat’s head was found lying shattered on the counter. Of course, I was blamed since I don’t like cats and I do like cookies.
I never confessed and am not confessing now, but I did think, “HHHHMMMHHM, a shattered cat head, maybe we can now get a dog cookie jar, hopefully, a German Shepherd or a Rottweiler.”
But before I could find a dog cookie jar as a present for my wife’s upcoming birthday, I came home to find her painstakingly gluing the cat head back together.
The next morning a glued cat head with more of a grimace rather than a frown greeted me when I entered the kitchen.
Over the next few years, the cat head was found shattered on the kitchen counter several more times. It happened late at night or when my wife wasn’t home. Nobody confessed, and I am not confessing now.
But each time, my wife carefully glued it back together.
As glue was added, the cat frown went to grimace to painfully askew to something like Freddy Krueger. Eventually, the cat head contained only glue and a few original centimeter-sized pieces from the original lid.
What a greeting every morning!
Then one day, I entered the kitchen to find the cat head melted. Someone had placed it too close to the stove, and it was hanging as a glob, half off the cookie jar. I acted boldly and told my wife, “It’s time to get rid of this cookie jar!”
Which we did.
We never replaced the cat cookie jar, which also meant that my ready source of cookies stopped.
The Cat Cookie Jar is a parable that, by our actions, we often find ourselves in pieces. We should confess our need for the promise of Romans 3:22 …
We are made right by Jesus!
Today, April 10, is also my wife’s birthday. Send her a greeting, but do not get her a new Cat Cookie Jar as a gift.