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. 

It takes a long time to grow up…

Becoming mature as a Christian does not happen instantly. Salvation, forgiveness, justification adoption into His family and many aspects of the Christian experience happens in a blink of an eye but the goal to be transformed into the image or reflection of Jesus Christ does not happen overnight. Like a mighty sculpture, there is much to be chipped away that is not like Jesus.

Today’s devotional likens it to the growth of a baby or the maturing of an apple. Both are what they should be from beginning to end, yet the baby cannot do what a grown person can do. Nor can the beginning of an apple mean it is fit to put in a pie.

Babies and apples, like Christians, cannot make themselves grow. We do have a part to play — that is, I need to be willing and cooperate with the Holy Spirit who feeds and nurtures me through the Word of God and fellowship with other Christians. Growth is enhanced through obedience as well, just as a child who runs and plays becomes stronger. If the assignments from God increase in difficulty, this is like graduating to the gym, working harder and increasing in wisdom as well as in understanding the perfection of God’s will.

Yet I know that age and experience must not underestimate the power of the world, the flesh, and the enemy to tip me over in my desire and effort to be mature.

Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure. (1 John 3:2–3)

The goal is reached only as Jesus appears to me and I see Him as He is. Until then, I cannot see Him clearly, even at my age and with years of experience living as His child:

When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. (1 Corinthians 13:11–12)

When that day comes, all that is not like Jesus will be gone, but more and more I realize how much of me is not like Jesus. As the Spirit works, the Bible tells me that my understanding of what that means have often been off base. I once thought that maturity meant things like always knowing the answers to perplexities, always praising God publicly, praying with great fervor, being a leader of others, etc. but the Lord keeps reminding me of this passage:

O Lord, my heart is not lifted up; my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me. But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me. (Psalm 131:1–2)

Doing good works is not as lofty as I once thought. It is simple, like being “submissive to rulers and authorities” (Titus 3:1) or raising children, or showing hospitality, or washing the feet of God’s people, or caring for the afflicted (1 Timothy 5:9–10).

The focus is not what I do, but the purity of heart in which it is done. That means none of it is for personal glory, or to pat myself on the back, or to draw attention to me, or feed my ego in any way. Jesus did not come to earth for any of that. He came to save the lost, even to die so we could live. No self-gratification but only to obey the Father and He endured “for the joy set before Him” when He would be seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

His works were perfect in every stage of the occurrence, but not complete until He declared as He died, “It is finished.” Even on my death bed, I will never be able to make the same claim unless I am perfectly mature. By an act of faith, I can put myself into the hands of the Lord, and then, by a continuous exercise of faith, keep myself there, even be made “fit for every good work” yet that total purity of Christlikeness will not be mine until I see Him face to face.

PRAY: Lord, this is why I long to see You. I know that it is in seeing You I will be perfected, and all that me-stuff will no longer be my worst enemy. Such a wonderful hope. Thank You.

 

Growing up

 

Theologians and mature Christians often point out stages in spiritual growth. Those recently saved are in a “honeymoon” phase, then as they grow, they begin to see the challenges and start to feel inadequate and helpless as they learn to rely on Christ for everything. These experiences are part of growing to be more like Jesus. John wrote a brief description comparing the process to physical growth:

I am writing to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I write to you, children, because you know the Father. I write to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one. (1 John 2:13–14)

He summarizes those stages as the realities experienced: forgiveness, fellowship with God, and victory over the evil one. MacArthur suggests that mature spiritual fathers have a deep relationship with God that comes from prolonged time in prayer and the Word. He says many Christians struggle with spiritual defeat or recurring sins because they haven’t learned to apply Biblical principles to specific situations. This could stem from several things, yet Paul did say:

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. (Philippians 1:6)

However, he also prayed for spiritual maturity:

And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. (Philippians 1:9–11)

Jesus gave us a pattern of how to resist the enemy by quoting specific portions of Scripture that applied to specific temptations. (See Matthew 4:1–11). He knew the Word, believed it, and refused to compromise its principles setting a pattern for us to follow. I know that when I fall, it is because I’ve either forgotten or neglected to use Scripture to settle the issues tempting me.

This instruction is also in the OT. The psalmist wrote:

How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word. With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments! I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you. (Psalm 119:9–11)

When the Lord came, He created a body of believers, a community for our growth described this way:

And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. (Ephesians 4:11–16)

Spiritual growth happens through paying attention to the direction of others that God gives as teachers and examples, through seeking unity and the knowledge of Christ and desiring to be like Him. I’m to discern truth, speak truth in love, and deeply care and pray for unity in the Body of Christ so we are building up one another and growing as we each do what God assigns us to do. In other words, seek the will of God, do it whatever He asks and trusting Him with the results as I encourage others to do the same.

Obedience is vital to growing up in Christ: “Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.” (1 John 3:2–3)

PRAY: Jesus, I can see how loving You means always wanting to know You more, to discover Your thoughts and heart and to agree with You in every way, showing it by obedience. It also means to grow in an intense love for Your people and in the desire to be one with them so You are glorified. This means knowing Your Word and doing what it says. Increase my hunger for it and for being more like You.

PONDER: the simplicity of Psalm 119:11. I must read what You say and store those truths in my inmost being that I might not sin against You, but also so Your Word teaches me what I should be doing instead of living selfishly for my own glory.