September 16, 2013

One Way

Devotion for the Week...

I would love to learn to knit. Every now and then I see a pattern for a beautiful knit project and I consider taking it up. I think I'd enjoy it. I love working by hand, after all, and yarn is so beautiful. But then I remember that I already don't have enough time for all the quilts I want to make. I'd be crazy to add a whole new obsession.

I can't even remember when I started this
It will someday look like this

















I have done cross stitch, but it has been a long time since I really focused on it. This Teresa Wentzler design has been a work-in-progress for so long I think I need to designate it a UFO. 

There are so many ways to express our creativity! Though I mainly stick to quilting, I am in awe of people who can successfully pursue multiple crafts, actually finishing projects in each of them. I enjoy seeing creations done by those who knit, crochet, cross stitch, embroider or whatever it may be.

There are some who would say there are also many ways to reach God; that all religions are just different paths to Heaven. I don't believe that is true. The Bible is clear, Jesus is "the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through [Him]." (John 14:6) Belief in Jesus as the Son of God, the sacrifice who took the punishment for each and every believer's sins is the only way to have a relationship with God and to one day enter heaven.

"Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God - children born not of natural descent , nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God. " (John 1:12, 13)

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16)

By 'belief' I don't mean simply hearing about Jesus and enjoying the story. I don't mean celebrating Christmas and knowing all the words to 'Silent Night' or 'Away in a Manger.' I don't even mean going to church every Sunday.

This belief goes deeper then the head and lodges in the heart. It requires not only an acceptance of Jesus (as real, as Savior), but also an acceptance of ourselves as sinners, as incapable of achieving righteousness on our own and, therefore, as people in need of a Savior. Only when we accept the facts about both Jesus and ourselves can we then follow the instructions Peter gave to the crowd on the day of Pentecost: "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins." (Acts 2:38)

There is only one way, and that way is Jesus.

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