by Rich DuBose
A paint-by-number approach to religion may seem like a wise course. There's no guessing where to "paint" or what "colors" to use. Everything is spelled out. Just follow the directions and put the paint in the designated areas, and pronto—out pops a painting. But here's the thing—it isn't really art. Most people can spot it a mile away and they don't identify it as true art because it isn't inspired.
At best, paint-by-number is formula art. It doesn't require much skill and is devoid of artistic expression. The alluring part of true art, particularly painting, is that it seeps from the fingertips of the artist onto the canvas as an expression of their innermost souls. Normal everyday objects are transformed from their present state into rich, synthesized images that are replete with added textures and colors. Such paintings speak to our hearts and move us beyond words.
A faith-by-number religion has all of the down sides of formula art. It is the classic way for church goers to play it safe. Just follow the rules and you'll end up with a facsimile of faith that looks real but doesn't require much in the way of experience. This was the approach of the Pharisees in biblical times, and Jesus warned his disciple….
"Unless your righteousness is better than the righteousness of the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven" (Matthew 5:20, NLT).
True Art
You'll never be a true artist as long as you dabble with paint-by-number kits and refuse to launch out into the topsy-turvy world of experimental expression!
Some people put enormous amounts of energy and creativity into living a lie.
Wolfgang Beltracchi and his wife, Helene, became the subjects of a media frenzy in 2010, as their scheme to deceive the art world unraveled. They were forgery experts who had made insane amounts of money duping buyers with their paintings. Instead of creating original art under their own names, which could have given them a positive legacy, they focused their energies on faking it. They didn't make replicas of existing works, but created new paintings and baked them in the oven to make them look old. They presented them to the art world as recently discovered paintings by highly renowned artists. And they sold them for millions!
True Faith
In the spiritual realm, legalism is to religion what forgery is to art. The only way faith can become genuine is to give God (the Master artist) full access to our heart's canvas. A faith-by-numbers experience cannot sustain us over the long haul.
"A legal religion is insufficient to bring the soul into harmony with God. The hard, rigid orthodoxy of the Pharisees, destitute of contrition [repentance], tenderness, or love, was only a stumbling block to sinners. They were like the salt that had lost its savor [taste]; for their influence had no power to preserve the world from corruption" (Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing, by E. G. White, p. 53).
“What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs—beautiful on the outside but filled on the inside with dead people’s bones and all sorts of impurity. Outwardly you look like righteous people, but inwardly your hearts are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness" (Matthew 23:27-28, NLT).
The damning thing about the Pharisee's religion was that it was an expression of their own will—not God's. Instead of allowing God to apply rich color to their lives, they did it themselves, but led others to believe it was God's doing.
Genuine spirituality does not originate with our thinking or behavior, but with God's work in our lives! His love draws us into a realm of compassionate living that changes who we are. We are not renewed by keeping the letter of the law, but by the Law Giver himself!
Church Galleries
A church is a gallery filled with portraits painted by God on the canvas of human hearts. As long as there is life, the paint continues to be applied and the portraits continue to emerge with more richness and color. When we apply our own paint and try to tweak the outcome to our liking, we deface God's image in us and replace it with a caricature of ourselves. Instead of the world seeing God in us, they end up seeing godless expressions of fallen humanity.
The most difficult yet exciting thing we can do is to step back and let God do his thing in our lives. It will be unlike any other portrait because we are each uniquely different. In the end, God's signature conveys the authenticity of a work that others will never grow weary of viewing because it reflects drama, struggle, resolution, hope and deliverance!
Rich DuBose writes from Northern California |
On the web at: richdubose.com. All Rights Reserved © 2025. Join me on Blue Sky @spiritrenew.bsky.social.
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright ©1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.