Some Things Never Change

I am a quilter. In the course of my (mostly self-taught) journey as a quilter, I have learned a very important principle.

A successful quilting project requires precision and adherence to truth. Absolute truth. Everything must be carefully measured with a standard measurement which does not change according to my mood, desires, or whim. A quarter-inch is a quarter-inch. Every measuring device I own agrees with that measure. I have to trust that this measurement is reliable. I have to be careful and precise during step one in my project if I want step twenty to come out right. Measuring by eye does not work very well. It is not dependable. So I measure by a standard while designing, I measure while cutting, and I measure before and during each stitching. If I make an error in the early stages and try to make it “fit in” with the rest of the quilt, I find out that I must do some ripping out or some redesigning or even replacements (an unendurable option when I am working on someone’s treasured keepsake fabric!). Early in my journey, I would keep on going when I first noticed something just a little bit “off”, hoping that this small error would not be obvious, or would correct itself. The result was always disappointing–there was something wrong with the finished product! And, sometimes despite my most fastidious efforts at measuring precisely, something might still be “off” and cause a problem later. How could this happen? The ruler didn’t lie–but sometimes my interpretation faltered. The result was the same as if I had not measured at all! I had some sort of mess to deal with: a part that bunched up when pieced together, a binding that refused to lie flat, or a crooked line of stitching. Some of these were reparable (with many hours spent ripping out and repositioning); others were not, and had to be discarded and redone because it simply did not fit together. Or, the whole design had to be changed to accommodate a wrongly cut piece that could not be replaced.

Life, like a quilt is designed to be measured. I must begin with a “ruler” or measuring device which is absolutely accurate and unchanging.

My life’s choices are measured by the Word of God. He has designed my life to fit together perfectly and He holds the “pattern” in His hand. Each piece has been thoughtfully and lovingly planned and perfected. It is up to me now. Will I follow in accordance with His directions in putting it together, or will I proceed willy-nilly, depending on my mood or whim? Will I take His Word for it, or will I argue with Him, thinking I can make an improvement on what He has said? It’s up to me. I have the gift of free choice. But I must live with the consequences. My poor choices may result in an outcome that is poorer in quality than what I had hoped for, or require a long period of “recalculation” to get back to where I need to be.

If I have surrendered my will to God and made Him absolute Lord of my life, I will accept by faith that His way is the right way, regardless of how many voices are screaming at me to go another way. Every decision I make along the way must be carefully measured against the standard of His Truth. I must begin and end with the concept that God is Truth, and His Word is Truth. Truth does not change. I cannot accept one part of Scripture as Truth and reject another. I cannot bend it to fit in with popular culture.

In our culture, there are almost no absolutes left with which to steer one’s life. Rightness or wrongness does not apply any more–only what each person feels like or “identifies as”. There are loud and angry voices in a discordant din, each trying to get all the others to agree or even just allow that which they are pushing. It is stressful and uncomfortable when I realize that none of the voices agree with the Word of God. It seems easier to just crawl back inside myself and let them go on in error than it is to boldly confront and speak truth or, worse yet, to conform my thinking or behavior to theirs instead of standing up for what I know is right.

Just like when I am preparing a quilt, the choices are mine. God has indeed given me the gift of free choice. My obedience and worship to Him would mean nothing if it were not freely chosen and given. So, I determinedly go back to His Word, my measuring device, and re-affirm what He says about that issue. And I press on, knowing I might have to brave it through some resistance to get to the desired finished product.

The list of things which God hates has not changed; nor has the list of things that God loves. The fruit of the Spirit is still the character qualities of Jesus Christ, and I am still directed to be conformed to His image by the renewing of my mind. There is only one way to walk, and that is ON HIS PATH.

When a person is being trained as a bank teller, he is not given counterfeit money to handle so that he will be able to recognize it, He is given the real thing–to handle over and over again, until he is so familiar with it that he will know immediately when something doesn’t feel authentic. So it is with God’s Word. We are not to handle sin to learn what to avoid–not even the outer boundaries of it–but we are to immerse ourselves in the Word of God over and over again, until we are so familiar with it that we can’t be tricked into error.

The most wonderful thing about God is that when I do err in my thinking or get “off” just a bit, resulting in problems down the road, He doesn’t give up on me. He helps me to rip out the error and reconstruct it. He knows my frailty and our tendency to stray from the standards. All He asks is that I acknowledge my need of Him to stay on task. The finished product will be a work of art, perfectly planned and executed by the hand of God.