God says keep going…

 

When looking at my quilts or talking to a non-quilter at a show, I often hear, “I don’t have the patience to quilt.” I sometimes think, “How then will you get patience?” But I don’t say it. God tells me how to grow in patience, but most of us don’t like His method.

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. (James 1:2–4)

What does it mean to be patient? The Bible uses patience, perseverance, endurance, and steadfastness to describe God. He patiently withholds judgment for a time and allows for repentance and salvation He uses this to define people who are reliable, faithful, and true to the end. Jesus was steadfast. 

Trials produce this quality using these English words to describe the ability to trust God no matter the situation. In other words, patience is not about a quality needed to produce a desired result. It is about the quality needed to wait on God for the desired result — and God does not stitch up my quilts.

I’ve given much thought to this idea of needing patience even to create something. Would the word “motivation” be more suitable? And to go deeper, would “love” be better? In the context of raising children, a parent needs patience to keep teaching them. Love desires that they become responsible, well-behaved adults. As for quilt-making, motivation can vary. For me, it is the desire to show the recipient that they are loved. I’m also created in the image of God so creating something useful and hopefully beautiful is part of who I am. Yes, it is often hard work and perseverance must replace procrastination, yet patience isn’t the biggest issue.

Actually, the alternative to patience is: “I want it now” and that statement tells me that I’m not mature — since maturity is often defined as the ability to wait for delayed gratification. Applied to quilting or anything else, it is the attitude of wanting something without having to do anything or without needing to wait for it. Interesting that the NT adds this as an addition to faith and part of my spiritual growth. I noticed that it follows another important word:

For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. (2 Peter 1:5–8)

Self-control means selfish desires under control or selfishness yielded to the Lord, and a careful read shows this is part of becoming more like Jesus and better able to persevere or keep on. A person of faith shows lack of trust in God’s timing by always ‘wanting it now’ instead of being patient with God.

That said, making quilts for me can be a patient-developer only if I’ve lost my original motivation to show God’s love to people. Then it is just another chore on my to-do list. Instead of that happening, perseverance and all that is required in the process helps me realize that if my list is just  ‘more chores’ motivated by duty instead of love.. Even housework or grocery shopping can be done out of love for others. Changing the motivation for why I do them makes a huge difference in my attitude while I do them. 

Impatiently wanting anything ‘done and over with’ is a faith matter too. I am not trusting God when I get upset with not seeing the results of what I have asked Him to do:

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1)

Quilt making has helped me keep my eyes on the promise (the finished project) even when it is unseen. I don’t need to have the end result in my hands to keep going, just as I am learning that I don’t need to see the resolution or answer to all my prayers instead of keeping my focus on God’s promises. If anyone tells me they do not have the patience to quilt, maybe this could be an opportunity to ask about motivations for why we do anything?

PRAY: Jesus, patience is a big topic. You are a big God, otherwise I’d never keep going without the desires You grant me to do things, to meet needs and show Your love to others. May You persevere in granting me perseverance and the faith to keep on when the work is a challenge or those around me do not understand the reasons why I do anything You put on my heart to do. 

Needy? Or Greedy?

 

Yesterday at our church brunch a woman came to the table where I was chatting with our pastor. She started to interrupt but he stopped her and said he would talk to her later. He told me she came with a different story each week but always asking for money.

A man, often with his wife, comes into our building after the service is over and lines up for food. They bring containers and take enough for a week, hiding it until they can leave. When anyone talks to them, they claim they cannot speak English.

The leadership in our church believes in taking care of the poor, yet these behaviors make that task a bit of a puzzle. We are commanded to be gracious yet not to behave as they are behaving. So what do we do when people greedily take advantage of us?

First, the NT offers some clear commands:

For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,” have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? (James 2:2–4)

From the very beginning, the church has prioritized ministering to the poor. “And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need.” (Acts 2:44–45) Notice, this is for the needy who are believers, as is the following description of Paul organizing a relief fund in Jerusalem:

Now concerning the collection for the saints: as I directed the churches of Galatia, so you also are to do. On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up, as he may prosper, so that there will be no collecting when I come. And when I arrive, I will send those whom you accredit by letter to carry your gift to Jerusalem . . . . (1 Corinthians 16:1–4)

It is the same in another situation: “So the disciples determined, every one according to his ability, to send relief to the brothers living in Judea. And they did so, sending it to the elders by the hand of Barnabas and Saul.” (Acts 11:29–30) The church is to consider the poor among them. Nothing is said about those living in poverty outside the church. However, God has plans for some of them:

Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court? Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called? (James 2:5–7)

The NT forbids Christians to be greedy. We have no excuse; God takes care of our needs and beyond that, we are to be content and help others. However, it also says this:

Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. (Ephesians 4:17–19)

According to this, greedy, self-serving people are hard of heart, even unaware of their sin. While some who are false teachers “in their greed they will exploit you with false words” (2 Peter 2:1–3) this is not about that kind of greed. Nor is the NT written for them. This passage separates how we treat greed in the church and what we need to do (or not do) with greedy people who are not believers:

But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one. For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside. “Purge the evil person from among you.” (1 Corinthians 5:11–13)

PRAY: Lord, You are saying to discipline believers who fall into sin, but leave the judgment of those outside the church to You. I also read 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 and realize that some who are saved were once “greedy” and guilty of other sins, but are now “washed, sanctified, justified” so this woman and that man could one day be part of Your Body. Give us wisdom in how we treat them.

PONDER: Why not find out what that woman needs and take her shopping? Why not sit with that man and eat with him, thanking him for filling a plate for us? Can I be sacrificially creative concerning these poor who seem exploitive? Jesus was — He died for them.

 

 

Created in whose image??

To me, creativity is one of the most interesting subjects. Since we are made in God’s image, we have a capacity for creativity, yet how does that work out in our lives? What are the possibilities?

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. (Genesis 1:26–27)

With God is Creator, our creative endeavors can be linked to godliness, be a blessing to others, and even glorify God, particularly in our stewardship of our world. However, because of humanity’s fall into sin, our creativity can also be destructive and even mock our Maker. Sin is our limitation when it comes to creativity.

I’m made in the image of God but can barely fathom this in terms of ‘how am I like Him?’ Even more of a mystery is that the Holy Spirit is part of the Godhead — how am I like the Holy Spirit?

Tozer says the Holy Spirit brings new things into being. He is “forever giving out and setting in motion, forever making ‘all things new.’ Wherever He is at work, the effects will be creative rather than conservative, though we should know that He also conserves whatever He creates.”

This phrase about conserving what He creates grabs my attention. Tozer adds, “To create and not conserve would be to waste the creative act. But the whole psychology of the Spirit is toward the creation of new things rather than toward the cautious preservation of what has been created.”

As an artist and a writer, this describes much of how I think about what I’ve created. I don’t want to throw any of it in the trash (except what obviously belongs there 😊) and at the same time I’m always drawn to create new things. The urge to design and build is so strong that I’ve had to discipline myself to do the ‘necessities’ like making meals, eating, getting enough sleep, and building relationships. I could stay in my studio all day, without outside contact, and be quite happy.

If I think of the Holy Spirit in terms of His creativity, those biblical descriptions of what He does become fascinating. He puts energy into His work. Books are written on this, so I list only a few: convicting the world of sin, pointing us to Christ, giving us new life, living in believers, setting us free from the power of sin, giving us assurance and comfort, opening our eyes and teaching us about spiritual things, forming Christ in us, enabling obedience, producing spiritual fruit, and praying on our behalf.

The Spirit of God does these and more in the lives of every person who believes in Jesus Christ (millions) and even some of it in the hearts of those who do not believe (billions). He is busy! Not only that, each act of creativity is unique and suited to the situation involved. One small example: two of us read a Bible verse and He speaks to us according to our need (rhema) in two different ways, yet both applications are just right.

The creativity of the Holy Spirit brings life, hope, love, peace and a host of other blessings. To think that I have been made in His image blows me out of the water! I am humbled and magnified, feel small and yet feel vital and important. To be open to the work and power of the Holy Spirit just in my creative life gives me a sense of awe. He is here, ready to enable, ready to teach, ready to give me all that I need to do all that He wants me to do.

^^^^^^^^^

Jesus, I am blessed to know that one day I will be like You. Today, I am also blessed to realize I’m also created like the Holy Spirit and one day, when sin is finally eradicated, I will be like Him also, for that is how You created me. This understanding is giving me goose bumps, and an increased desire to yield myself to all that You want for me and from me. Wow, what a God You are!