A bit of wisdom from the Bible, from the sewing community, and a shout out! Please share your thoughts and projects. I would love to post more about all of your hard work! Even if you don’t quilt please don’t hesitate to share your talents with us!
“Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learned Christ! —assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.” ~Ephesians 4:17-24
Putting on your new self… Have you ever bought a new outfit and felt brand new wearing it out for the first time? A new outfit can easily boost your confidence and make you feel ready to conquer the day! Throwing out the worn out clothes and replacing them with new ones is something we need to do every once in awhile. However, there is one choice that we must make in our life that is much bigger than any of our other choices, and that is to throw off our old self before Christ and put on a new way of self in Christ Jesus. In the second half of chapter 4, Paul is writing to the Church of Ephesus about the believer’s walk. I felt this was a very applicable topic with our quilting wisdom for today: replace your rotary blade!
Therefore, in light of our spiritual blessings in Christ (Eph 1-3) and our call to form a united, mature body of Christ (Eph 4:1-16)…
Paul calls us to no longer walk as the Gentiles (pagan, unbelievers) do, but be transformed in the way you have been taught by Christ. To understand what our new self should look like, we must first understand what we are throwing out. Paul gives some detailed description of the walk of unbelievers: futility of their minds (Rom 1:20-23), darkened in understanding (2 Cor 4:4), alienated from God due to their ignorance, hardness of heart, sensuality, and greed. That is some pretty tough stuff, and it is easy for a lot of us to say, “I’m a good person” or “I really haven’t been THAT bad,” but the Bible tells us that “…all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom3:23). But we have hope! In Christ Jesus, we can put off our old self and these deceitful desires, and we can be washed clean and put on our new self!
Therefore, having put away falsehood (Eph 4:25-32)…
Now that we have put off our old deceitful desires that come from Satan, we are called to be “created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.” What a tall order! But we are not required to do this all on our own. Titus 2:11-12 says, “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age.” Paul gives us tangible applications to what true righteousness and holiness looks like in the last half of chapter 4: speak truth (Prov 12:19), be angry and do not sin (James 1:19-20), perform honest work, let no corrupting talk come out of your mouth, build others up, give grace, be kind, tenderhearted, and forgiving to others. God does not require you to clean yourself up before you come to Him; He will help you be transformed and renewed!
Replacing your rotary blade… I’ve been struggling recently with cutting. I measure twice and then I cut, but my ruler slips or my rotary blade leaves tiny parts uncut, and my strips never seem to come out just as I had measured them. So frustrating! I was watching a video to try diagnosing my problem when the lady said, “If you don’t remember the last time you have replaced your rotary blade, you should replace it!” I realized then that maybe it was not my technique that was the problem, but my tools! So the Quilting Wisdom for the Sunday is: replace your rotary blade. Along with that, your sewing needle and maybe a few other items could use some love and replacing as well! Changing my rotary blade was a big step in the right direction to help with cutting. Now all I need to do is replace my warped cutting mat, and we should be all set to cut some straight and square blocks!
Shout out to Robin Rice for this weeks project!
Pattern: Patriotic Table Topper by Marisa Littleton
The blocks are applique and machine embroidery stars into a small 30×30” table decoration. A very festive quilt for the 4th of July! Robin used a technique called flange binding that she learned from Missouri Star Quilting Co. This is a simple and quick way to bind your quilts without having to hand sew! I personally love hand sewing, but if you are looking for a machine binding technique, this is a really awesome way to give some extra flair to the edge of your quilt. Her favorite part about this quilt was the machine embroidery. Beautiful quilt! May you all be blessed this week and happy quilting!
- Roman 1: 20-23: For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.
- 2 Corinthians 4: 3-6: And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
- Roman 3:21-25: But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.
- Ephesians 4:25-32: Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil. Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
- Proverbs 12:19: Truthful lips endure forever, but a lying tongue is but for a moment.
- James 1:19-20: Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.
Quilt Bus 