Polluted Garments vs. Mercy and Fear

Jude 22-23

This passage weighs heavy on my heart with the current events going on in our country. Everywhere we turn, we see people demanding that their sin be recognized as acceptable, normal, and harmless. They call those of us who recognize the sin for what it is bigots and homophobes. So what does the Bible say of these matters when it comes to cloth? It amazes me that even here, God has something to say!

“And have mercy on some, who are doubting; save others, snatching them out of the fire; and on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh.”

Mercy and fear. What a combination.

Mercy – like God had on Adam and Eve. They sinned and God knew it. He called out to them in their sin to come to Him, but they hid instead and blamed others for their misdeeds.

Fear – Concern for the judgement of God that was going to come because of the bold actions against God without repentance, like with Eli and his sons...he warned them, but could not control them, and God fried them. He warned them out of mercy...they were his beloved sons...but he feared God and knew that nothing would save them if they did not get right with God.

So we are called to be merciful. I see the people around me caught in the web of deception that this particular sin is ok, and I weep. Many are tender-hearted, wounded, and trapped. They were not looking for this, but it found them and warped their thinking. They doubt themselves...if another guy or gal is attracted to me, am I gay? Is there something wrong with me? Would anyone of the opposite sex ever love me? And they doubt God. Did God really say men and women were supposed to marry and only them? If God loves everybody, then shouldn't He love me if I am this way? If He didn't hit me with a lightning bolt, then He must not care what I do, right? Nothing bad happened.

The flames are lapping at their shirttails. We are called to grab them out of the fire. They are hurting themselves and don't see the danger...but we see the spark starting to create the flame of God's judgement and grab them, throw them to the ground and stamp out the flames before they are consumed. That is compassion. That is caring. If we were to stand there and watch them burn when the fire could have been controlled, we would be called heartless and cruel. But when we try to do it on the spiritual realm, we are seen to be that way, heartless and cruel. Au contrar!

The polluted garments...covered with who-knows-what...they are probably festive and colorful and attractive...and though a little charred on the edges, might seem redeemable. A good wash would clean them up, right? But like Achan, we are told to leave them alone. We aren't to desire what these people deemed proper clothing. They were clothed in sin, and we are to be clothed in righteousness. They clothed themselves in fleshly lusts, and we are to deny those lusts and keep ourselves holy and pure. What may look appealing to the eye, harmless and desireable, an be deceitfully lethal.

Those garments are covered in germs and viruses, diseases that are contagious and harmful. Sin doesn't just lie dormant, it multiplies, contaminating everything it touches. We are told that they are a pollution, something that destroys by being breathed in, by exposure over long or short periods of time depending on the concentration. It is like smog or poisoned water...it may kill you quickly or the effects may take their toll over years, but disease, cancer, and death are the results of not removing yourself from the polluting forces, or cleaning the pollution up and removing it from your environment. With the current generation concentrating on cleaning up the external world, they should understand that one needs to clean up their internal world as well.

We are to HATE the garments, the things that are carrying the disease from one person to another. We are to fear the spread, to have compassion and mercy on those who have been exposed and are infected with the disease of sin. To those who knowingly spread the disease, there is a terrifying expectation of judgment (Hebrews 10:26-31). There is fear even for them. I take no delight in envisioning them perishing for all eternity. It is mercy and fear that leads me to warn even them of the consequences of sinning and leading others astray. (Matt 11:20-24) Mercy and fear...the clothing of the righteous in a sin-cursed world.

Redressed

So John 13 continues that Jesus took His garments (redressed Himself), and reclined at the table again.

The cleaning being done, He again dressed Himself in His own garments. When He was again dressed, He could return to the table and begin the seder...after He explains why He did what He did. He set them an example of service to mankind, starting with each other. They needed to set aside their pride and competition amongst themselves and see the others as better than themselves before God could use them to serve the church and the world.

And He redressed Himself for all eternity.

After the work of the crucifiction, He was able to get back to being God. He could again sit on the throne next to His Father and prepare the wedding supper of the Lamb that the church would someday eat from. He could be who He was before the world began. Clothed in righteousness, power, glory, and strength, He will show Himself for who He really is. He was everything they couldn't imagine He really was. But it only appeared to them when He put those clothes back on that He was back to normal...the Rabbi, the teacher, the leader. But He knew He was more...He was the example of servanthood for them to follow. They couldn't have imagined that He was going to give them the job of imitating Him, for them to become the leaders, the teachers, the Spirit-led authorities that the church was going to need. He would clothe them with the Spirit...He would send them their new wardrobe so that they would be wearing what He had worn as a man. They would be servants of the Most High God, servants of the church, and servants of one another, but only when they were willing to strip themselves of their pride and let Christ show them that their garments of humility were necessary. Then they would they be clothed from on High. They would function in the world “normally,” but knowing who they really were, servants of Christ. They wouldn't be seen by the world as any different, just as those who saw Jesus on a regular basis would never know by just looking at Him that He was God as man. The people He grew up with saw a fairly normal person. They didn't see God running around, and when He started His ministry, they were the last to want to follow Him. The same would happen with the disciples. They seemed so ordinary. Only those with spiritual eyes could see that they were set apart...that they had been with Jesus and that had made a difference somehow. When we serve and then reclothe, we will appear to be nothing special, but we will know that something profound has happened. We have been changed, not just our clothes. Jesus never would have been expected to be a servant. The disciples as leaders would not have been expected to be servants, but they were called to it. And they were doing it as unassuming men. Young for the most part, common laborers for the most part, outsiders of the temple on all counts. This wasn't the High Priest in his garments, or common priests called to serve the Lord, and not even Nicodemus, a Pharasee who wanted to keep the Law perfectly. These were common men who were called to be someone, but realized sooner or later that they didn't need the garments of priestliness to serve God. They just needed to follow Jesus, the real Priest, and they would have the garments that they needed to be servants of God.

They didn't need ephods, white collars, or long robes and tassels. They just needed to identify with the common man just as Jesus did. He didn't hang out in the temple like a monk and dress in a robe to show He was committed, and neither did they. They were to just be them...Peter, Simon, John, Thad, Judas not Iscariot, ...they were going to be at the table of communion in humble attire and serve in the same way. Just as we are called to do as a priesthood of believers. No robes, degrees, or collars necessary. Just going out into the world as nurses and doctors for the world without the white coats and shoes, as factory workers and hamburger flippers without the uniforms meeting needs for spiritual building and hunger. The uniform is taking back up the garments that we wore when we came to the table and leaving a changed person. No one may notice to start with, but it will show that we have been with Jesus and learned that to be most like Him, we must empty ourselves.  

Toweling off

As we continue John 13 at the Last Supper, it says,"Then He poured water into the basin, and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded."

So He took off His clothes, took up the towel, and now, finally, He did the work. He was girded with the towel. I looked up girded...it was to encircle with a belt or band. Also it was to hold something on with a belt or band, like a sword. It therefore means also "to arm" oneself, like for a battle. Thus the admonition by Paul to "gird up your loins." So He had tied the towel around His waist, so this was no short face or hand towel, but a long piece that would allow for not only the tying, but for the drying. He was encompassed by the role of servant He had taken on. There was no getting out of it until the work was over. He was in the servant role for the long haul. That was 22 feet that needed washing. He was armed with the towel, the washing being followed by the drying. He was armed as a servant. He was armed with the truth of His mission. And He was armed with humility, without which we will not see God. It said He girded Himself. He dressed Himself. He didn't ask anyone's help getting dressed this way, as was the habit of kings. There were no servants to this servant. He did all of this on His own. He didn't ask anyone else to take the role and then do it because they all refused Him. He saw the need and met it. And He did it all without comment. He answered questions, but did not ask them if they wanted to be washed. He just started washing. He knew they were dirty, and they did, too. Even then Peter tried to dissuade Him from doing the job. When Jesus wouldn't back down from the task, Peter denied Him. I can see him pulling his feet up where Jesus couldn't get to them. Now Peter had watched him wash some of the others, and use the towel to dry them. They were made clean, but Peter decided that he was apparently more righteous than they were and wouldn't be caught dead letting Jesus take on this servant role in HIS life. It wasn't ok that the others let Jesus wash them, but Peter was the first to protest out loud when it was His turn. Not that he didn't need to be washed. He knew the custom. It just wasn't supposed to be Jesus doing it. He didn't offer to take up the towel, but he refused to let Jesus serve him. And really, he was right. Jesus shouldn't have been doing this as He was their teacher and Rabbi. But Jesus was demonstrating that He would be the One that made them completely clean, and He was not about to let Peter think that he was above the others or too humble to let Jesus work in his life. He told him the truth...Peter was being PRIDEFUL, not humble. And if Jesus couldn't clean him, he wasn't going to be a part of Him. And it worked. Peter realized that Jesus meant business. This was not just his feet being washed, but his soul as well. And only Jesus could do that in the lives of the disciples and in the lives of those to follow Him later.
So the towel was used...the washing ended and the drying began. They were clean, but the towel was then employed to finish the act. When the towel absorbed the dirty water, Jesus removed the dirt from them. He absorbed their filth to Himself, just as He would the next day, when all of their sin would fall upon Him.
After all of those feet were cleaned, that towel...can you imagine the dirt? The smell? The basin poured the water, but the towel took on the results of the washing. It was rolled up and was then laid aside (Hebrews 1: 11-12), removed from their presence. They were ready to get on with the dinner. And after He took all their sin on Calvary, it was removed from them and forever put away so they would one day eat at the marriage feast of the Lamb.
The towel, the symbol of the servant, took the filth away and put it on Jesus.  He had all of their dirt on Himself. That was just the dirt of 12 men...can you imagine taking on the dirt of all of humanity from all of history? No wonder God had to turn away from Him when He bore it all on the cross. The filth, the stench, the muck and mire of all sin from the Adam to the last day that earth rotates on its axis would have been immeasurable in human terms. But it was removed from them because Jesus washed it off and took it upon Himself. They could now put their sandals and shoes back on and get to work. That is Calvary...where the dirt was removed, accumulated from washing one person after another. As long as they submitted to the washing, they were clean. And if not, they would have NO PART with Him.
And that cleaning was enough. Peter begged to be washed even more, and Jesus reminded him that He cleaned what needed to be cleaned. The head and hands were clean, but the feet were not. The towel was not needed for those parts on that day. The removal of sin was enough. The feet alone needed attention, and He made them completely clean through only washing them. This is hard for us to understand...we know that we are totally unclean, head to toe, but He had already begun His cleansing work in their lives even though they didn't see it at the time. He had cleansed their minds and set them on Him, and their hands by their work for Him done in His name and by His authority. Their tendency to wander off on their own paths with their own plans...that was the thing that needed their attention and cleaning. Even lying there, Peter was getting off the path of Christ's plan and purpose with His ideas of what God needed to do in his life.
Do we submit to Jesus's washing, letting the towel of His sacrifice for removal of our sins do what we can never do? Do we think in our pride that we aren't going to let Him serve us, or ask Him to do more for us than is necessary? We need to let the towel take away those things that make us unacceptable to eat at the eternal dinner, the supper that demonstrates to us the work of Christ in our redemption. Get washed by the Son, let Him towel you off, and then let the dinner begin. Let's eat!

Taking up the towel

Back to John 13 (see previous post)

And taking a towel, He girded Himself.

So yesterday He took off His garment, and today, He put on a towel. So there He is in His underwear, so to speak, and He clothed Himself with a towel. He was going to become the servant and wash. That was His new identity. He was going to touch dirty, smelly, calloused feet. He was going to wash them and make them clean. They weren't going anywhere, those feet. They were just going to lay there at the table. I supposed they washed feet when people came into houses to keep the smells down and not get the place dirty. Open sandals would lend toward dusty feet. The custom was to clean them, to have a servant there to wash and dry, and since no one took on the job, Jesus did.

There was no reason to do it at this point except to show them that they, too, were going to be servants if they were going to be great in the kingdom, and that fighting for position should be a fight for the bottom and not the top. They were to exalt one another as more important (Phil. 2), to serve the church through ministry in preaching and teaching, serving the orphan and widow (James 2), and serving fellow congregations-to-be throughout the world. They were not supposed to be the one being served like some king or ruler. They were to be the one to get dirty and help wash the daily dirt off their fellow believers.

He didn't wash their feet to make them better smelling.

He didn't do it to make them feel like the master of the house.

He didn't do it to send them out clean.

He didn't do it to shame them.

He didn't do it to teach them some legalistic ritual to follow.

He didn't do it so they could have foot-washings at church services to show how pious they were.

He didn't do it so that other churches would take it as a sign of Christ's being with them.

He didn't do it so that they would see Jesus as some sort of slave to their foolishness.

He did it so they would look at His example and then look at themselves and see what their heart attitude was. Were they full of pride? Were they willing to be no one in the eyes of the world? Were they understanding that they could only lead by serving?

He did it so they would look at each other in a new light...those they had snubbed hours earlier looking for their “rightful place” at Jesus's right hand...did they see them as more worthy of God's love because they saw the awfulness of their own sin? Did they esteem others better than themselves? Were they willing to lay their lives down for each other? Did they realize that blessing others brought more blessing into their own lives?

He took the towel, and he got dirty hands washing clean dirty feet. The towel would wash and dry and finish the job that Jesus started. The towel takes the clean thing and lets it dry so that dirt would stay off longer. It makes feet more comfortable.

We take the towel to dry ourselves so that the clothing can go on, so that the shoes can be worn, so that the hair can be combed. We take the towel so the dishes can be put away or at least be placed upon and left to air out and not pour their drips all over counters and floors. Towels absorb the clean water after washing and give that refreshing feel as the last of the moisture evaporates from our skin.

And if this towel was more of a wash-cloth, it helped as an abrasive factor to get the dirt and dead skin and oils off of the person to make them cleaner than water would have alone. We have the water of His Word that washes us, but we have iron to sharpen iron, each other, to help us purge the daily sins and get the earthly person more purified to worship and serve.

Are we willing to pick up the towel and get to work honoring those around us? Do we help use God's Word in the lives of others to make them clean? And do we kneel down in the most dirty places and get dirty ourselves for a time to do the work of the kingdom? Then are we like Jesus.

Laying His garments aside

John 13: 4

It is getting close to Easter, and this passage is about the Last Supper. It says Jesus “got up from supper, and laid aside His garments; and taking a towel, He girded Himself.”

I will stay in this passage for a few days, for it is rich in instruction and example...and there is no better example for us than our Lord.

They are celebrating Passover and are reclining at the table. I have seen these tables and they are not our tables...the paintings are NOTHING like what was happening here. It says John leaned on Him, which would be terribly awkward if you are sitting in chairs. This table would look more like a long skateboard ramp...there are inclines on both sides and a long level plank arising along the center. They would lay on their sides on the inclines and the food would be on the high level plank. Therefore, John could lean back on him if he had him back to him. And all of their feet were sticking out to the outside, making the washing He was about to do very accessible. This posture aided also in digestion.

So Jesus is at dinner and sees that no one has had their feet washed...this is usually done by the servant of the household, and there was not one there, and no one had volunteered. So Jesus, setting the example of the servant that He actually was (Phillipians 2:7) decided to teach them a lesson and serve them in the most humbling way possible.

He laid aside His garment.

He had to take off His clothes to play the part of the household slave. This was not disrobing to keep from getting his clothes wet or dirty, but to take on the role of the servant. If you are in a play, you do not go out in your street clothes onto the stage...you change to “become” the character that you are called to play. But in this case, Jesus was playing Himself, but just showing Himself as another part of who He was. He was a teacher and preacher, and a man, and dressed the part. But He was also a servant in every sense of the Word. The Phillipians passage tells us that He took off the robes of God-head in heaven and dressed like a man, becoming Human-God...making Himself nothing...a slave, a servant, a man without any value in that society. He was to be used by mankind, but also used by God to reach down to mankind. And even as a man, He humbled Himself. He did not exalt Himself on earth, but exalted the Father. He was God, but pointed people to the Father, and not to Himself much at all. He avoided those who focused too much on what He could do on the earth...He was more worried about them focusing on their relationship with God! He didn't demand attention, riches, thrones, the best hotel accommodations. He had nothing, and the one thing He did have, His garments, even those He took off to serve. And Paul tells us that because He was willing to do that, that God exalted Him to the highest place.

Taking off was the way to put on...humbling led to exalting. Stripping self of any glory led to the most glory for Him and for God. And the disciples saw it and protested. This was just not right. Jesus shouldn't be stripped for them, but they didn't realize that He had already been stripped of His heavenly garments for their knowledge of God, and He would be stripped of them the next day again for their salvation by God. He laid aside His garments for them, and for us. He washed them with water and He washes us with His blood. He laid aside the very last thing He owned to serve, and He laid aside His life to serve through dying for us.

And that is what Easter is all about. He laid aside His garments to serve, to cleanse, to wash, to Glorify the Father as an example to us.

No pride.

No attention.

No lecture.

No refusals allowed.

He had to do it. He wanted to do it. He was called to do it.

And we are called to lie still and let Him do it to us. Don't pull your feet back from the servant-God. Put your feet out there and let Him do the dirty work. That's why He came.

Tear my heart out

This is the story of Naaman. He was a powerful man, valiant and trustworthy, and yet he had leprosy. There are a lot of things to learn in this passage, but we are looking at fabric, so let's go down this road.

A young Israeli captive girl must have liked Naaman, for she told her mistress that there was a prophet that would be able to cure him. He told his master, and the master sent him and a letter to the king of Israel asking for healing...but he missed one part of the story. He asked the king to heal him, and not the prophet.

Imagine that you are the king and this fellow shows up at your throne with a letter pleading for you to heal a foreigner of leprosy. He brings tons of money and ten changes of clothes. Now these were not common everyday clothes, but stuff that was top of the line...highly valued and of fine workmanship. Stuff fit for a king. And of a healer. This was a serious plea for help with the finances to back it up.

Well, not only did the king not accept the clothes, he tore the ones that he was wearing. How could he heal anyone? Who would ask such a thing? Was the other person just trying to pick a fight?

I love his response...sort of ...”Am I God , to kill and to make alive, that this man is sending word to me to cure a man of his leprosy?” At least he knew who it would take to heal the man, and it was not him! Only God could do such a thing! The king did have the power to kill...he could have ordered any man dead in the kingdom and in the lands around through sword or war...but this man that was considered as good as dead because of the leprosy, and there was only separation to keep it from spreading to others, but no healing, of this disease. How could he be expected to make him alive? He was a ruler, not a healer. He didn't think to ask God how to go about using this for His glory or seeking the priests or prophets for help. But the prophet Elisha heard through the grapevine that the king had torn his clothes in great distress. He asked why he did such a wasteful thing instead of seeking God through His prophets. He sent word to have the man sent to him, and after varying events, Naaman was indeed healed.

So what? Do we not respond like the king? He failed to ask God how to answer the problem at hand. He destroyed something in response to the distress. He tore things apart looking for an answer instead of seeking and mending. He reacted with woe and upset instead of looking to find an answer..

My friends have gone through a lot lately, and when news comes of one more piece of distressing news, I fall into bed in tears, wondering how to even pray for them. They are hurting. They are scared. They are facing things I can only imagine would turn their worlds totally upside down. And I wonder how I can possible help. I can't make a dead husband alive, I can't cure cancer, I can't speak words of wisdom that are sensitive and wise and yet not possibly hurt their feelings in the process. I feel totally helpless like the king. It becomes about them and me, and I forget that there is a healer right there who can reassure them of eternal life and revive their crushed hearts, who can heal their bodies or at least their broken emotions in response to the potential of another bad diagnosis, and bring the type of healing that I cannot only not do, but complete understand. The healer is there, and all He has to do is catch wind that I am distressed and He asks me to send them to Him. I don't need to tear my clothes, but if I do, the word gets out to the one the message was originally meant for in the first place. I am not called to be the savior, He is. And He will live up to that name. That name, Savior, Comfortor, Healer, Counselor, and dozens of others, that will meet their needs. I am a willing vessel, but at moments like this I am reminded that I have little to offer but friendship and love and a Healer that is willing and able. And there even when we forget to ask...

That, my friends, is our God.

Behind curtain number 2

The curtain in the temple was often call the veil...it was like a cloth wall, several inches thick, and separated God from the rest of the world. We talked yesterday about weaving this thing for God's glory, but did they think about the fact that none of them would ever see it again, let alone go through it to be in God's presence? That very thing they were weaving was meant to separate their Holy God from them. It is a sobering thought. God would be worshipped at that temple, and they had the delight of making it, for participating in the building, but it was that very act that would bring God's Spirit to live in their midst, but not in their lives. They couldn't walk behind that first curtain to get to the places of bread and light...the blood of the animals might make it that far at times, but they were to stand outside looking toward, but never looking in. There was hope in a future with God, but not in having a personal relationship with him. Not in this life.

That is until the day that Jesus became our high priest and entered inside or within the veil. He played the high priest, the only one that could go temporarily behind the curtain just long enough to make the sacrifice according to all that was commanded and then GET OUT OF THERE! They wore bells on their garments and had a rope tied to them in case they were slain for not offering the sacrifice correctly . That doesn't sound like a bit of fun, and the hope that you had was that you got it right, that God would accept the sacrifice, and that the people would be pardoned for another year. And that you wouldn't be pulled out by the rope and leave on your own two feet! Alas, we often take the holiness of God for granted and do not see that there is a lot at stake here...and forgiveness of God is no samll thing. So how can we even think about approaching God?

This is the beauty of the book of Hebrews. It tells us how the whole priestly thing points to Christ. And it tells us that through Christ, we have access to God just as He did, because He did it first...went behind that veil with the sacrifice that paved the way for any who would come after Him to follow. It's not a yellow brick road, but a road up Calvary, but both lead to home. It says Jesus was the forerunner for us, going in behind the curtain to make it all right for us to come in, too. That is the hope we have, that we can come before the throne of God that is behind that curtain. The only thing behind that earth curtain was the Mercy Seat...and we are told we come to that place to find mercy (4:16, which mentions it first, and is reitterated here). We can approach Him with boldness and with hope, the two things that the priests could not do. They went meekly and with questions of God's acceptance of their offerings, though they were the ones proscribed by God Himself! We can almost barge in...that wouldn't be polite, but it's more like Esther going to the king knowing that he could reject her, but sort of knowing that he wouldn't because he liked her...we can run to the lap of the Father in hope because He swore the oath that He would not reject those to whom He promised refuge. Nothing the priest could offer was a permanent solution to their sin or the sin of the people, so they would have to remain separated from God yet again, but the offering of Christ was perfect and made them perfect, and therefore they could come to God for His love and protection. We can draw near. It is a BETTER hope. They had hope, but this hope is Better! The wouldn't need priests to offer sacrifices or to teach, no prophets to warn, no animals to sacrifice, because God will teach them all about Himself and gave them a new and better covenant than that He had made with Abraham.

The whole of Hebrews speaks of this hope...the hope of being approved by God through the blood of the new covenant – Jesus- and partaking intimately with Him in a direct audience with the King. It is like the story of little Tad Lincoln taking someone to see Abe as president...the man could come because there was nothing to stop the son from taking him there. The son had the access to the father, and if you had favor with the son, you could go where he went, even to areas that were restricted to outsiders. The veil made us outsiders, but the Son has access, and when we have His permission and favor, we have access as well to the God behind the curtain.

That access is through salvation, through accepting the offering that the Son made to get us that backstage pass... I have mine...do you have yours? I can't get you in, but Jesus surely can!

Woven together

The Lord led me to think about the temple...the curtains and fabrics that were used for making it back in Exodus. In chapter 35: 23 it tells the tale of people coming to the priests with the gifts of blue, purple, and scarlet material, fine linen, and skins that were dyed red that they already owned. Then in 25 the skilled or wise-hearted women spun more thread, dyed it and wove it. It says that those women's hearts were stirred with skill, or that it lifted them up in wisdom to spin the goat's hair. This was all brought as a freewill offering to the Lord.

Wow. The call goes out to build the temple and donations are requested. And the people go to work. First they give of their own possessions. What I have Lord, it is Yours. They then realize that it will not be enough to get the job done, so they set to work...they gather and spin with skill...I assume with the desire to make this thread the best for the Lord, and then they skillfully weave it and dye it the prescribed colors.

I love how the original wording says they were wise-hearted. That is apparently the euphenism of the day for SKILLFUL. They knew what to do, how to do it well, and did a job that was of the highest quality. The yarns were smoothe and consistent, the dyeing process was even and of equal value with the cloth before it, and the weave was of even and smooth consistency. What they were making for God's glory needed to reflect His glory by virtue of it's perfection.

How do we work for God? Do we empty our homes of the valuable things that He needs to build His church, either the building or the people who are the real church of Christ? Do we make lasagna for ourselves and serve the missionary visitors spaghetti, taking shortcuts in price and effort? Do we give our best work to the mission of the church, or to our jobs? Do we spend more on toys and vacations than we do the work of the church?

Then, when the needs arise to get the whole job done, do we go to work ourselves to make up what is lacking the in building of God's kingdom? Do we get involved in church activities so that we can uphold others, sharing in the tasks and the fellowship? Do we see what is lacking and ask what more we can do, or say we have done our part and let the burdens fall upon fellow believers? I picture these wise-hearted women spinning together, weaving and dyeing in a group...as the thread was spun and wrapped, the next gal would baptize it in the dyepots, and the next would hang the hanks up to dry, and others would test for the dryness, and wrap the weaving sticks, and the weavers would warp the looms and weave away! It was a group effort on all counts...

Oh, that we would work together to build the church, to raise an edifice in our communities that reflects the true glory of the one we worship, which is the building of the people of the WORD. Oh that we were wise-hearted, knowing the mind and will of God, prepared in the skill of weaving His Word into our lives so that what we produce reflects the perfection of the One who taught and trained us to do things His way, the right way. This is not machine-made, but hand-worked, and each pass of the shuttle, each tamper of the loom, will have a tension and a consistency all its own. The idea of God weaving us together in our mother's womb shows us that things develop over time, adding little more at a time to make the completed project what it should be. We can not add a little thread here and skip a weft thread there...or the weaving will show signs that things are out of place...and the only way to fix a weaving problem is to cut out the bad patch and re-weave, a time consuming and tedious process. If we follow step by step, warp by warp, we will be more likely to see where we have errored and be able to un-weave before the problem is so deeply inbedded that it has to be cut out. We can see the tensions in our lifes are right or wrong, being reflected in how much pull in or bow out there is on the overall piece. Will we lay in peace next to our neighboring threads, like the 3-strand cord that holds together with more strength than trying to go at it alone? A bare thread on a weaving loom is worthless...it is only when our lives cross those of others that all of us become strong and useful for the Weaver's bigger purpose. Let every fiber of your being be spun in the Hands of Him who wrought us, and let us work our piece of the process so that worship of God can happen in us and in others who come to His temple.

Jesus Clothes at the Foot of the Cross

I have no idea why this morning I starting thinking about fabric and thought of Jesus garment being gambled for at the foot of the cross. All 4 gospels tell the tale of a piece of fabric “and also the tunic; now the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece (literally- from the upper part through the whole). So they said to one another, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it, to decide whose it shall be”; this was to fulfill the Scripture: “They Divided My Outer Garments Among Them, And For My Clothing They Cast Lots.”” John 19:23b-24

Jesus only owned the clothes on his back, and they were taken from him. The outer garments were made into 4 parts, one for each of the 4 soldiers. It sounds like they tore them up since this one they did not want to tear. Not much to say for the fashion of the Lord, then, if all he wore was not worth keeping in one piece. I have no idea and have never done a study on why the soldiers would have wanted rags...was this some sort of money-making scheme, to sell parts of Jesus clothes to those who would want a souvenier of the day of his death, or were rags valuable in that day because cloth was expensive? Would they hang the piece up as a souvenier themselves of participating the this once-in-a- lifetime event? There had to be a reason. But the tunic was special. It was one piece, woven from top to bottom. No seams, no cuts, no hems. It was unique and therefore worth keeping in tact.

Why it this one piece of fabric described in scripture? Who made this thing? Why was it valuable?

My friend says that all of scripture points to Jesus...so let's go down that road with this tunic.

It was ONE. There were no cuts...this was woven as one piece, not one piece that had been cut out into more pieces and sewn back together. It was a unified piece. The Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are ONE GOD. Any part of what Jesus did was done with the Father and through the Spirit. They have one mind, one soul, one purpose and one plan. It was a symbol of the unity of the Godhead clothing Him daily.

It had no seams. There was no other thread holding it together. No need for buttons and button holes, clasps, hooks, or pins. In Him, Col. 1:15-17 tells us, all things were made for Him and in Him “all things hold together.” He is the one that holds the atoms together to hold the molecules together to hold the elements together to hold the cells together to hold all created things together. Gravity holds all things in place...so guess what the force of gravity is? It's Jesus! It can't be seen, but it is there. Nothing holds Jesus together...He holds it. There is no need for anything to hold Jesus garments together...He is the holder.

There is no hem. There is no unraveling of His plan. The lower edges were cast off and did not need to be turned up and sewn down to prevent it from coming apart. When it seemed that Jesus life was coming apart at the ends, it was not...it was the fulfillment of the plan. It came to a planned end, and was the fulfillment of the purpose. It was woven to the point of the planned end, and then was finished perfectly. Satan could not unravel the purpose of Christ at that point...Jesus went and gathered the dead in Him together, and is awaiting the arrival of the rest of His people. Redemption had been made, just as the plan had been made.

The Word says that all scripture was fulfilled in the resurrection of Christ, and the symbolism of the garment runs far deeper than my finite mind can know, but the garment was not torn because no force, no matter how evil, cold-hearted, money-grubbing, or death-giving, can ever rend assunder the plans and purposes of God. The work of Jesus is recognized as a valuable thing even by the enemies of Christ and they seek for it for all the wrong reasons. But they still keep it whole, as the garment of God that clothed Christ in righteousness can never be wrought assunder.

Remnants

If we were a piece of fabric, we would probably think the only thing worse than being sat on the shelf after being bought is not being bought at all. No, I take that back. If we are a bolt in the store, there is hope that we are going to be bought and used. The true fear is being a remnant in the store. That piece that is less than a yard that the purchaser of the fabric doen't want to spring for because it is not needed for the project at hand. There you are, right there for the taking...and someone doesn't think you are worth having. The remnant is the leftover, small enough that it is not necessarily useful, but 100% part of the rest of the bolt...just as good of quality, beauty, and color...all the things the rest of the bolt was, but you aren't needed. You get rolled up in a ball and discounted, because not only does the purchaser not want you, but the storeowner doesn't want you around any more either. You are worth less... but not worthless. There is still value in you...you are still bought with a price, but oh, you believe that you are unloved and unworthy.

The passages in scripture, however, reflect a different opinion of God toward remnants. He preserved them for Himself. I don't know how many times in scripture that God speaks of preserving the remnant. The bulk of the people of Israel went their own way, did their own thing, worshipped other gods, or left God out of their lives. Those things He destroyed. But He always kept for Himself that little group of people who would worship Him only, walk in His ways when others walked away, and that would endure through the destruction to rebuild the nation that would follow Him again.

I love the passage in 1 Kings 19 where Elijah is depressed. Life is horrible...Jezebel is after him with armies...he is exhausted, hungry, and scared. He doesn't know where to hide...and he just wants to die instead of facing what he feels is the inevitable...death via Her, public humilitation before that. He swears that he is the only one left on earth that is zealous for the Lord, and the rest of the world is after him to kill him, not to seek him as the Prophet of God. God doesn't use the word remnant here, but He does tell us exactly what He is refering to when He uses it elsewhere. Verse 18 says that 7000 men are out there preserved to do God's work. He reminds Elijah that he is not alone, he is not worthless, but part of a bigger group of the faithful. They are the remnant preserved.

But what do you do with a remnant? Well, you may not make a wedding dress or a large backing for a quilt, or a pair of pants, but you can make a small thing. My remnants become burp cloths, pencil cases, coin bags for the church kids, ornaments for the tree...

The cotton and flannel ones become scrap quilts. Those remnants are pooled together to do what one piece of fabric alone cannot do...make a colorful combination of pieces joined into a pattern of stars, bars, logs, or blocks that sparkle with variation, hue, texture, and contrast. Sometimes the remnant bin is exactly where I go when I hit the stores. These bits and pieces can add the very spark or blend that I need to make the project work, or even sing! They may not cost as much, but that makes them even more exciting. I have seen people go crazy over scrap bags and remnant bins because they get a little taste of something missing from their stash, that little something that adds to the pieces they already own. And they rejoice over them. It doesn't take much of some fabrics for them to work into a quilt block...as a matter of fact, with too much of some pieces, the project would be gaudy or they would detract from rather than add to the overall effect of the pattern.

Are you letting God use the little bit of you there may be left? Do you know that you have great value, even if you aren't the most expensive bolt on the shelf, or have been discounted by the world? The point is not your value, but how you are used in small ways to do something on your own, like burp a baby as a cloth, or to do your small part in working together with others to make the article whole, and valuable, and good. God chose the remnant to glorify Himself...and if you are one, that is a great thing! Let Him use you. Let Him make you more with others than you can be yourself. Add your voice to the chorus. You never know when your color, your size, your pattern, your design is just what God needs to make His church whole.

And the price He paid to have you, little scrap, was His own Son. Because He was priceless, you are priceless...and preserved, just like the remnants of old.

Amen.

Shelved for a while

Having said everything yesterday about how God makes us and treasures us, but while I was looking for the verse about not forgetting the baby borne, I ran across the verse Isaiah 45:9. This is where the proverbial rubber meets the road.

He created us like a potter, and we are the clay. He decided what He wanted to make me, and I may or may not be happy with that. I want to be a gilded vase, and end up being a crock pot or chamber pot...

No doubt we all have the desire to be self-important, respected, and admired. We want to be the one in the lime-light...preaching, teaching, leading while serving. We want to be made from the best fabric, used with the best pattern, and hung in the National Quilt Museum for people to see and stand in awe. We don't like to think that we might be the gunny sack, the laundry bag, the underwear, the cleaning rag. Fabric is used for all kinds of reasons, and the fact that we need cleaning rags tells us something. No one would use gold lame to wipe a spill...it is not made for that. It wouldn't do a good job of it, anyway. It would scratch the glass, smear the dirt, and ruin the cloth, which would tear or shred. It takes a sturdy, lint-free cloth, soft and clean, to do that job. It may be washed to be reused, or it may be tossed into the trash, having accomplished the task it was designed for.

Maybe you feel like a rag...maybe you feel like you are too fragile to do much good and can't work hard like the gal in the pew next to you. Maybe you are course, or stiff, or flimsy, or dark or light or the wrong color to go with your surroundings. Maybe you feel like your stash...just sitting on the shelf waiting to be used. You were bought, but not put to work. You feel like your life is being wasted just sitting there in the house, not out on a mission field or fulfilling some desire you have.

God tells us He knows the plans He has for us, and that those plans are good. Joseph spent a LOT of time waiting, having been loved, hated, used, abused, and accused. But God fulfilled His purpose, not by putting him on the shelf, but waiting for the right time to use him. Leaving him on the shelf was not wasting him, for He spent that time in Joseph's life preparing him for the task to come. He had connections, a reputation, showed himself a leader even in the jail, and shaped him to be a vessel of loveliness and provision for the entire part of that world in which he lived. He blessed his family from afar and preserved them as well as others.

So piece of fabric on the shelf... the plans are being made for you. I have bought so much material without a plan...I let it cure on the shelf, look at it, pet it, and wait for the time or the idea to come to me to put it to its best use. It should not be discouraged, for someday it will fulfill its purpose and become something that it was meant to be. God is wiser than I, and He knew from time and eternity what He made each of us for. And we need to be patient and place our hope in Him that we will fulfill His purposes and that our lives are not wasted in the waiting.

Made, but not forgotten

We memorialized a friend in January. She passed away December 14, not the best time for a funeral. The family needed certain people to be there, and chose to wait for the service until weeks later. And the service was a blessing.

We spoke of her humor, her faith, her life and loves, and her attentiveness to the people around her.

Memories are precious things.

We make quilts to preserve the memories of some people. My daughter's friend passed at the tender young age of 14, and her parents took her tee-shirts and made 2 quilts for her siblings. Some of us make quilts to become memories. I made a quilt in honor of my son's wedding to let them know they were loved and create a memory for them. My friend took her aunt's dresses and made quilts for the family after she passed. These are memories that will last at least one generation, and maybe more, if we document them for future generations.

Quilting is part of making memories. We remember most of the quilts we make and who we make them for. Pictures of them fill our scrapbooks and computer files. We remember our first quilt with pride or humiliation, depending on the results.

And some we forget. I have taken the time...and it's a lot of time, making things for people...cross stitch projects, quilts, aprons, and other things...and later I see them or they remind me of them, and I marvel that I forgot that I had made it at all... I had taken the time, love, and materials, focused so hard on the making that I forgot the gifting...relieved to have it done, it was done, given, and forgotten.

I am so grateful that God does not forget me...I had spent my hours on something I though was worthy of my time and for giving, and forgot once I had it done. God is still working on me, but also promises that He will never leave me nor forsake me, and never forget me. He stitches my life together meticulously, creating without need of instructions, charts and graphs, or even supplies...He makes me with just a Word from His mouth, a thought from His “brain”, a touch of His finger...and it is done. He orchestrates my every move...who will use me at any given time, and knows if I will be hung to admire, get wrapped around someone as a quilt, or stuffed into a closet, received with grace, but not loved. He reminds me that even if a mother could forget her baby she bore, He could not ever forget us...He bore us like a mother, created us, nurtured us, and gave us to the world to be used...but He doesn't just give and forget. He gives and tends, mends, cleans, and treasures His work, no matter where it ends up. He keeps track...and for that I am eternally grateful.

Naked, but blessed

Romans 8: 35, 39b

Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribuation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? ...(nothing) will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

This is an interesting question...can nakedness separate us from the love of Christ? The even more interesting question is why did he ask a “who” question and give a “what” answer. There is the list of what people would be tempted to think would separate them from God's love. But having things happen to us that are at the least unpleasant to downright life-threatening does not mean that God does not love us. The New Living Translation puts it this way: Does it mean He no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or are hungry or cold or in danger or threatened with death? If life is in the pits, does God love us less. If we are shivering in the cold, without clothes to keep us comfortable and warm, does God not care? Is He looking the other way? Is He mad at us? Does the health and wealth gospel mean that if we aren't healthy and wealthy that God has walked away?

This is Paul speaking. He went through it all. Beaten and left for dead. Sitting in prison with nothing to do except witness to guards and sing praises. Shipwrecked on the high seas. Those wet clothes were probably colder than having no clothes at all. And he is the one saying that none of this meant that God didn't love him. It meant just the opposite. He loved him enough to save him and call him to a mission that would change the world. He didn't shield him from the difficulties of life, but proved his commitment to the message of the risen Christ by what he was willing to suffer. No one would go through what he did if he didn't truly believe that God had spoken to him. Without these clothes, they would have died of exposure...this was not just not having the right clothing, but having no covering to preserve their body heat at night. And this is the list of the people approved by God. They were willing for the sake of their love for God to be despised by the world. And the only thing that would cause a person to endure this to the point of death is not believing that God didn't love them, but KNOWING that HE DID.

Who have I in heaven but You? David asks this. When we are totally without the love of the world, we as people of faith look up. We wonder if God is still there...and He reveals Himself to us somehow and lets us know that if God is for us, who can be against us. He clothes us in His love, covering us with the riches of His grace to get us through, even if it means dying and going to Him. Nothing, not even death, separates us from Him. Those things draw us into ever closer dependence on Him, as uncomfortable as it can be at the time.

So who is the who? Satan. He will try, but He will fail. Once we are God's, Satan can treat us like Job, sent armies to defeat us, strip us of everything but God Himself, and not win, because God's love is there regardless of the presence of Satan's hate. Who can separate us from God's love. No one, no thing, no time, no way. We are adopted and housed and clothed and given life. Each of those things that threatens us, God makes provision for in our spirits so we can endure. We can even rejoice in our sufferings when we begin to see that God is there for us and pulling us through.

And the Love is there like the warmest, most beautiful clothing, even when we are naked. That is the promise...the love of God through Christ Jesus.

Bind up the wounded

Today is the day that I go to the hospital to sit with my friend while her husband has surgery. It will be a brutal thing, in my opinion. It will be a shoulder replacement. Yuck. Chisels on bone, screws and plates, muscles and tendons pulled this way and that. He will be one sore cookie for a while.

And there will be bandages. Blood and serum will ooze for a while. Bandages will need to be changed. It will not be a job for the faint of heart. The wound will be exposed for all to see. The cut mark, the stitches or staples that hold the wound together will show where and to what extent the doctors had to open the area to make the needed changes to make life ultimately less painful, though now for a little while the pain will be even worse.

So what does this have to do with fabric? The Lord brought the verses of Psalm 147:3 and Isaiah 61:1 to mind. He heals the broken hearted and binds up their wounds. To bind up in those days meant to take strips and pieces of fabric and wrap them around the area not only to absorb the ooze and keep out the dirt, but to hold together the open areas. I doubt that there were stitches then, and surgery was not too safe, but the cloth was needed for all of these reasons.

Who gets bound up? The outcasts or exiles who are brokenhearted. These people were sent from their home in Jerusalem and He is gathering them back to Himself. Their hearts were broken at being separated from their homeland and their God, so He brings them back and treats the wounds that were afflicted on them. He wanted to heal those who He had chastized to correct, or who had been abused by the enemies that had driven them away.

Isaiah speaks similarly. These people were coming back after war. They had been taken captive and prisoner, and bore the wounds of losing the battle. The cities were desolate and needed to be rebuilt. God was going to fight for them now and sent the prophet to wrap them in the healing cloth of God's love and protection. He would clean out the wound and anoint it with soothing and healing oils, and wrap them to keep those healing oils in and the filth of the world out. The wounds would be covered so the scars would not be evident during the healing process, but the work of the healing was still going on underneath the cloth. The wrap indicated that the person was wounded, but the ugliness of the scars and extent of the wounds would not be clearly seen by any but those closest to them who would tend it...removing the cloth, cleansing again...possibly causing temporary pain...but again binding it up in clean cloth so that the healing could continue and infection not set in and cause more trouble and possible death.

Who do you know that is bound up in the cloth of healing? Do you belittle the pain they are in and the wounds that are healing in their lives? Are you close enough that you may be asked to help change those bandages and participate in the healing of the hurt like Isaiah was? Can you stomach seeing the true pain that is hiding underneath the cloths that are covering the raw and ugly realities of the battles some people have to fight in their lives?

The White Cross is an organization that still rolls bandages from 2”, 3”, and 4” strips of cotton and flannel used fabric for use in healing in 3^rd world nations. Visit their website and click on the handbook for their guidelines for what they need and how to package it, and where to send it. Or ask at your local churches if they know of other organizations that do these things. Bind up the brokenhearted with your scraps of material sent in the love of our Lord.

This was initially written Jan 15, and the surgery went better than expected with him actually having little to no pain afterwards. He is still healing, but is doing well, praise God!

Saddle up!

With Easter coming, we can ponder the triumphal entry into Jerusalem of Jesus...

Luke 19: 35 They brought it (the colt donkey) to Jesus, and they threw their coats (cloaks, garments) on the colt and put Jesus on it. As He was going, they were spreading their coats on the road.

Matthew includes the palm branches in his rendition, and John leaves out the clothing completely. But both were used for Jesus. And they will be used again! Revelation 7: 9 says those from the tribulation will stand before the throne and before the Lamb with palm branches in their hands. Laying these branches down and having the donkey tred on them would release a fragrance smell, and the palms were a symbol of triumph and joy, peace and victory.

But the throwing down of the garments was to invited in the new reign of the king. In 2 Kings 9:13, this is how the people proclaimed Jehu the new king over Israel... And this is what they did for Jesus. They made him their king, if only for a week.

But we overlook the garments on the donkey. Obviously over the 3 years that Jesus preached, He walked everywhere He went. When he sent the desciples to get the donkey, it did not come with a saddle or saddle cloths. In that day, padded cloths were used for comfort on horseback. They covered the back and sides of the animal, probably to keep the rider clean and comfortable. There were no stirrups, so they put Jesus on the beast after making their impromptu riding gear. I suppose they could have just tossed Him up there...I doubt that they had any idea what was going on and why He wanted a ride all of a sudden...but it was to fulfill scripture. John says they were already coming to Jerusalem and the palms and such were being laid before him and they then found the donkey. He was already on His way when He sent them ahead to bring the donkey from town. It had never been riden, so it had no gear...but when the disciples saw that He intended to ride this thing anyway, they tried to make Him comfortable. I imagine they thought it would be a bumpy ride, if they could keep Him on the back of the thing at all. I'm sure they thought He was crazy asking for an unbroken young animal, and then riding it into town in a wild crowd surely didn't seem like a good idea. Wouldn't the young thing be scared and angry about mobs of people and somebody on his back? But Jesus used it to further glorify Himself in their eyes.

So the disciples saw a need and met it the best they could. There was no time to go to a padded saddle shop, so they took off their outer garments and covered the animal, making it comfortable and clean for Him to ride. The people unwrapped themselves and spread their clothes, their valuable outer garments, on the road to invite Him in celebration to be their king.

So what am I willing to take off and give to exhalt the Lord in my life, and to declare Him my King in this world, and the next? Am I seeing immediate needs and providing for them without fearing that they are inadequate for the task, not good enough for the Lord? Nothing we give is worthy of Him, and for such a grandious event, their well-worn everyday robes were al they had to offer. Jesus didn't ask for the best in this situation. He didn't ask for parades and flowers, but when people saw him coming, they cut the branches of the trees along the road. The people hoped He was coming to town for the Passover, and the Pharasees were looking for Him to come for the opposite reasons, but those who accepted His coming honored Him with their clothes...using them in ways that they weren't designed for... Who of us would have thought of using our clothes as road coverings and saddles? Not many, but we must adjust and use what we have as we see the need and let Jesus be glorified however He can be through our use of whatever we have however He calls us to use it at the time. The whole situation may not make sense to us, but God planned it in the Old Testament, and they fulfilled His will whether they realized it or not.

And that can be triumphal!

Closets of Contentment

Haggai 1: 6

You have sown much, but harvest little; you eat, but there is not enough to become satisfied; you drink, but there is not enough to become drunk; you put on clothing, but no one is warm enough; and he who earns, earns wages to put into a purse with holes.

Isn't this the story of our lives? It seems like there is never enough, and though we have, we are never satisfied. The clothes are there, but no matter how much we have hanging in the closet, there is never the right thing to wear for whatever occasion. We pile on the layers, but still sit and shiver. Enough is never enough. That is our current culture. This phone is not as good as the new one, this computer is slow and out of date. The car needs repair, justifying us eye-balling the newer models that go whizzing by on the street. It's not that we don't have any...it is that we are not satisfied with any of it. We are spoiled.

And why the discontentment? God says it is because we are putting ourselves and our happiness, building our house with our stuff, instead of being concerned more about Him and His house. We work and labor for our creature comforts instead of building up the church, investing in the work and people there. We care more about whether our curtains match than if the missionaries have enough money to live in a shack with no heat. We spend all of our free time watching tv and running around playing, but don't “have time” for a prayer meeting or Bible study. We go to church, but it doesn't grab our heart. It is part of our life, but it doesn't satisfy, either. We have a bit of a relationship with God, but it is not as important as pursuing that person that we may want to marry or giving time to Bible study instead of studying for a job promotion. We have enough religion to get by, but it doesn't feed us, overwhelm our spirit with drunken joy in the Lord, we are not warmed by His covering, and according to the church in Laodicea, we are poor when we think we are rich.

I think we all spend seasons of life, or at least a few days, feeling like this. It is to be expected. We are human. We are separated from the holy and we show it. We aren't satisfied because there is a gap between God and fulfillment, and us and our lacking souls. But if this is our total state of being, never ever being overwhelmed with God's mercy and love, never feeling so blessed you feel like you are going to burst out in song or dance, then we need to see if we are failing to pursue the things of God for lesser things. I know I do.

This discontentment, or feeling of lack, shows itself in my accumulation of fabric and yarn. I see, I want, and at the right price, I buy. Not because I need...I have what is fondly refered to in my online Yahoo group Stashbusters, a SABLE – Stash Accumulated Beyond Life Expectancy. I have more than I can ever use. Well, at least in theory. If I sat down and sewed non-stop, I probably could realistically sew it up in a couple of years. But there is always a new piece that comes into the shop where I work, at Jo Anns or Hancocks, or any other store in the area or across the country. Shoot, I don't even need to need something...I just want to go and look! What else is out there? What colors, patterns, magazines and books can delight the eye? What can I dream of making next? Mind you, what I have accumulated all started out this way. It promised fulfillment and delight, but it is never enough.

Solomon had it right in Ecclesiates 1:8-11

The eye is not satisfied with seeing nor is the ear with hearing...is there anything of which one might say “See this...it is new!” There is no remembrance of earlier things...”

We want to see more. We want what is new. We look hard and forget all of what we have sitting at home waiting for us to use up.

And we forget God.

This is our condition. We are this way, and God knows it. So what's a fabricoholic to do?

Think on the things of God. Prepare His house. Be concerned about His people, His church, His house, more than your own desires. Who can we serve today with the things God has given us? Are we hoarding our food, our drink, our clothes and cloth, and our money, or do we have an open hand to the God who has provided it all? And are we grateful? He delights in our praise, which is the acknowledging AND thanking Him for all that we do have in all of these categories. If we are truly grateful for them, we will not misuse them or neglect them. We will rejoice in Him, and then we will be able to have a heart that is full and a life that is rich...and these things come from within when we are totally content in HIM.

Fill 'er up, Lord!