Respect and Dignity

Devotion for the Week...

Sometimes when I read the Bible, a particular passage will strike me differently even though I know I've read it before. This past week that happened with 2 Peter 1:5-8, which says, "Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone. The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ."

I read it over a couple of times, all the while thinking, "Christians should be at the forefront of the social justice movement." Now, you might think that's an odd conclusion to draw from the passage, but hear me out!

Moral excellence means doing what is right. 

Godliness means acting as God would act. What would Jesus do, as it were.

Brotherly affection means caring for others as though they were family.

And love for everyone...well, that means exactly what it says. Love. For everyone.

All of these character traits point toward treating other people with respect and dignity. Nowhere does it say the brotherly affection only applies to people who look like us or believe like us or have the same social standing as us or the same language as us or anything else. In fact, Peter goes on to say we should have love for everyone. There's nobody left out when we say 'everyone'.

Then, in verse 8, Peter writes that we become more productive and useful the more we grow in these qualities. What an interesting thought! I feel like Peter is saying that the more these traits grow in our lives, the more our actions will reflect them. And the more our actions reflect these traits, the more useful our knowledge of Jesus becomes.

Christians should be the ones fighting for clean water in every community, regardless of who lives there, because we all need clean water. Christians should be the ones affirming that Black lives matter because they do and society has acted as if they don't for way too long. Christians should be the ones working to address food insecurity, because no child should go hungry.

There are so many more issues, but they all hinge on the same thing. Are people being treated with respect and dignity? If the answer is no, what are we doing about it?

The Quick Quilts Pattern Bundle

Note - This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase after clicking a link, I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. 

Do you love quilts that stitch up quickly? I think all quilters do! Quick quilt patterns are especially good when we want to make a gift or when we just need the rush that comes from finishing something that didn't take a year to make. Well, I'm excited to have my Zoomed In pattern included in a bundle of quick-to-make patterns that is available today.

The Quick Quilts pattern bundle includes 20 patterns that all come together quickly. They're stash friendly, too! The best part is the 20 patterns are only $19 USD! That's not even $1 a pattern!

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Here are all of the patterns that are included:

The pattern bundle is only available for a few days (until October 9th), so act now to get all 20 patterns for only $19 USD.

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You Have to Go When They're Ripe

Devotion for the Week...

The last Wednesday of August, Paul and I went out for a few hours of blueberry picking. That week was incredibly busy. I had a quilt on a tight deadline that I was trying to finish, plus we were leaving that Friday to take Zach to university, so there was all the stuff that needed to be done so he could pack. Laundry, laundry and more laundry, lol.

While we were out in the woods, I kept thinking about all of the things that needed to be done and how it was maybe a little crazy to be out picking berries instead of doing all that other stuff. But then I reminded myself that it's a very narrow window for getting blueberries. First of all, we go back to work soon after they first ripen, which makes it harder to find the time to go, plus this year we were going away for four days to get Zach moved. And, probably more importantly, if you don't go soon after they ripen, then everyone else will beat you to it! So, crazy or not, we went out and picked about 12L or 3 gallons of blueberries before the heat of the day made me call it quits and we headed home.

Picking berries and thinking about how short a time we have to get out there for them, made me think about salvation. (This isn't the first time picking blueberries has inspired a devotion, by the way. You can read the others here, here and here.) Everyone alive today has the opportunity to accept Jesus as their Savior, an opportunity which has been available for over 2,000 years. That may make it feel like this opportunity has always been and will always be, but that's not the case. There will come a day when God will say time is up. Maybe that will be the day we die, or maybe it will be the day Jesus returns. Either way, the time to accept Jesus as Savior will be over.

Unlike with predicting when berries will be ripe, though, we can't predict when that time will be. 

Jesus told a parable about a rich man who had so much he figured he could "sit back and say to [himself], 'My friend, you have enough stored away for years to come. Now take it easy! Eat, drink, and be merry!' But God said to him, ‘You fool! You will die this very night. Then who will get everything you worked for?’ Yes, a person is a fool to store up earthly wealth but not have a rich relationship with God." (Luke 12:19-21). We can't know how long our lives will be. We like to pretend we will live forever, but we won't, and when that day comes, it will be too late to accept Jesus as Savior.

Likewise, we can't know when Jesus will come back. Even Jesus doesn't know! He said, "However, no one knows the day or hour when these things will happen, not even the angels in heaven or the Son himself. Only the Father knows" (Matthew 24:36). We do know that He will come back and that when He does, it will be too late to accept Him as Savior.

We have to act now, accepting Jesus as our Savior while the time is right. Have you accepted Him as your Savior? If not, I pray you soon will!