March 23--Weavings

Weavings

Numbers 36:1-Deuteronomy 1:46 Luke 5:29-6:11 Psalm 66:1-20 Proverbs 11:25

In the highlands of Guatemala, I have seen the women stretch out yards of colorful cotton strands and then use wooden hand looms to weave the freshly-dyed threads into beautiful textiles. I was in that majestic Guatemalan territory on a human rights tour during the final days of a brutal civil war that claimed the lives of many of these weavers and their families. Still today, however, designs passed down through generations appear in their weavings.

Weavings of beautiful fabric, designed and carefully created from beginning to end, take on the patterns, thread-by-thread, on the traditional Mayan looms. It’s a picture that comes to mind as I look at today’s One Year Bible readings. God’s gracious plan of salvation and purpose for our lives is revealed, like a weaving designed from the beginning of time. Jesus teaches us today, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” (Luke 5:31) Many of the sick are our own children and adults acting like children who have yet to understand the gospel of God’s grace, His deliverance from evil, the personal relationship with Jesus Christ that awaits them. In fear, we often write off the lost by thinking they are “too sick” for Jesus and are destined for captivity. Fear not, the weaving contains more hopeful threads! “And the little ones that you said would be taken captive, your children who do not yet know good from bad—they will enter the land. I will give it to them and they will take possession of it” (Deuteronomy 1:39) Without fear, we present our saving, healing, forgiving, life-transforming Lord Jesus to those around us who need Him. One of the strands in the fabric of God’s Word today shows us how to do this. We are to share our own testimonies of how Jesus has transformed our sinful lives, we are to declare: “Come and see what God has done, how awesome his works in man’s behalf!” (Psalm 66:5) As we share this Good News, as we lead people to our Great Physician and see sinners repent and be healed, the weak made strong, the poor made rich in Christ Jesus, we will ourselves be refreshed! “A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed” (Proverbs 11:25). The greatest refreshment of all is our on-going astonishment by God’s awesome grace!

I invite you today, and every day, to see the way God’s grace is weaved throughout the fabric of His Word! Experience it! Share it! Be astonished!

Pastor Paul