Accepting

Devotion for the Week...

I've been thinking the past couple of weeks about how I might tackle a temperature quilt. You can see my plan in this post. While I was making the decisions, I had to find ways to work around a few things I know about myself, like the fact that I know I won't take the time to heat up the iron to press just one piece. I could either force myself to press them all, which would likely mean I'd put them off day after day and I'd fall seriously behind, or I could just use my hands to flatten it as much as possible and accept that most blocks will have imperfections from the lack of perfect pressing. I opted for the second option and I'm quite happy to say I'm still on track for making one block every day so far this year 😊

In the grand scheme of things, accepting the fact that I won't take out the iron for just one piece isn't very important. It's pretty laughable, even, but accepting it allowed me to find a way to work around it so I can do a project I'm excited about.

God knows my limitations, too. Way more significant than anything to do with quilting, He knows how angry certain things make me and when I can't stop myself from judging others. He knows when doubts creep in and my faith falters. He knows how often I complain about things I don't want to do and all of the hurtful things I've ever said. He knows all of those things about you, too. He isn't surprised by our faults or our sins. Psalm 103:14 says, "he knows how weak we are; he remembers we are only dust."

Even though He knows that we are prone to sin, He still wants to have a relationship with us so He provided a way to make that possible. That way, of course, is through Jesus. "For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16).

Background quilt is Multiplication

We don't need to deny our sin and pretend we are perfect. God knows we're not. We know we're not, too, but we think we need to pretend we are. Really, that's just counter-productive. If we're pretending we are perfect then we aren't accepting Jesus' sacrifice and the forgiveness that God offers us through Him. All we need to do is recognize that we are sinners and believe that Jesus died for us. Once we do that, God accepts us back into relationship with Him, bestowing upon us the righteousness that comes from Jesus.

God accepted the reality of our nature a long time ago. Have we? Once we do, we are able to then accept His solution and enjoy the relationship He intended for us all along.