Knitters' Devotional: Goodness

What makes knitting a good thing to do?

We can help others with it, of course. Or make our lives more comfortable. Or add color and beauty to our homes. All of these are nice things, good things.

I think, though, that what makes knitting a truly good thing is that God gives us the ability to create with this talent. Like teaching, preaching, and leading knitting is a gift. In Exodus 31, vs. 1- 10 we read that God had given skill to all kinds of crafters. Workers in wood and metal, weavers and perfumers. God had chosen, Bezalel to lead the effort and said, “…I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill, ability, and knowledge in all kinds of crafts…” In that instance, the workers were to make the fittings and furnishings of the Tabernacle in which God would be worshipped by the people of Israel during the desert wanderings and until the Temple was built. But God does not change. He is always the giver of gifts and talents. Crafting is a spiritual gift, to be used to build the Kingdom of God. As such crafts, including knitting, are good things.

Recognize the rightness, the goodness of this gift. Give thanks to God for it. Use it with joy to do the work of Christ.

You will be blessed for it.

Lord, thank you for the spiritual gift of knitting. May we use it for the good of your Church. In Jesus name, Amen

I am writing a knitters' devotional and would welcome feedback on this potential entry. Thanks!

Knitters' Devotional: Kindness

A school chorus song says:

Are you wondering how you can help the world?

Are you wondering how you can make a diff’rence?

Do you wonder what to do? Do you wonder how it’s true?
Do you wonder how a change could start with you?

It starts with kindness, with kindness. It comes from deep inside

With kindness, with kindness, kindness from the heart.¹

It is very true that kindness can make a difference

Do you remember Dorcas from Acts 9? She was always doing good and helping the poor. Then she died. When Peter arrived and was taken to the room where she was laid out, widows swarmed him, showing him all the robes and clothing that Dorcas had made them. I suspect that if there had been knitting circles in the early church, Dorcas would have been in one. In fact, Dorcas did so much good and was so loved that, through Peter, God restored her to life. 

We should follow Dorcas example. I suspect that is one of the reasons her story is recorded in the Bible. It is a real affirmation of how crafts, like knitting, can be a force for good in the world. Let us make them so.

Dear God, help us to be kind. May we use our knitting for the good of others. In Jesus name, Amen.

¹Theresa Jennings, c. 2007, Plank Road Publishing, Inc., Music K-8, Volume 17, Number 3. International copyright secured. All rights reserved.

Anyone who withholds kindness from a friend
   forsakes the fear of the Almighty. 

                                        ~Job 6:14


This is an entry for a knitters' devotional book I am in the process of writing. Feedback requested!

Song for Sunday: My Hope is Built on Nothing Less

  This song came up in worship services a couple of times in a row and has a lot of truth in it, so it became this week's Song for Sunday.

My Hope is Built on Nothing Less

        My hope is built on nothing less 
 than Jesus' blood and righteousness. 
 I dare not trust the sweetest frame, 
 but wholly lean on Jesus' name. 

   On Christ the solid rock I stand, 
   all other ground is sinking sand; 
   all other ground is sinking sand. 

 When Darkness veils his lovely face, 
 I rest on his unchanging grace. 
 In every high and stormy gale, 
 my anchor holds within the veil. 
 

          On Christ the solid rock I stand, 

   all other ground is sinking sand; 
   all other ground is sinking sand. 

 His oath, his covenant, his blood 
 supports me in the whelming flood. 
 When all around my soul gives way, 
 he then is all my hope and stay.  

          On Christ the solid rock I stand, 
   all other ground is sinking sand; 
   all other ground is sinking sand. 

 When he shall come with trumpet sound, 
 O may I then in him be found! 
 Dressed in his righteousness alone, 
 faultless to stand before the throne! 

   On Christ the solid rock I stand, 

   all other ground is sinking sand; 

   all other ground is sinking sand.  

                                ~Edward Mote

What is you hope built on?