The heavenly loom

“Mama! A loom! Auntie Cherri gave me a loom. I’m going to make a scarf with it! She showed me how.”

 The loom Penny held in her hand was a piece of smooth wood carved in a flat loop about eight inches long and half an inch thick. On one side were carved small wooden pegs, about twenty on each side. “This is my loom,” she said. “And this is my yarn for the scarf.”

Penny carefully tied a knot of yarn around a peg on one end of the loom and pulled it tight.  Then she looped the yarn around the first peg, crossed over the loom diagonally and looped it round a peg on the other side. She skipped a peg and repeated the process, making sure each loop was pulled firm and tight. It looked like a pattern of Vs. Then she went back and looped pegs again, skipping a different peg this time. After she had three loops firmly on each peg, she used a metal pick to pull the bottom loop to cover the loops, Following a pattern of going across the loom and skipping pegs, she kept going until the loom was filled with yarn in the chosen pattern.

All the while she was doing this, her mother watched in amazement.

The finished piece of work would hardly qualify as a blanket or scarf, but the yarn held together as Penny lifted it from the loom.

“It’s beautiful,” Mom said. “Do you think that is something like the way God weaves our hearts for Him?”

“Well, He uses different colors and types of yarn. And He weaves them together so they make a finished piece.”

“And the loom? What does the loom do?”

“The loom keeps the yarn together. Makes it a whole piece even though it’s made of many strands of yarn.”

“Just like God! God holds us together and makes us in the pattern He has for us. If we let Him. God is like a heavenly loom!”

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Lessons from articles of clothing. From April through June of this year we’re going to draw spiritual lessons from the imagery of the Bible related to clothing. How do you feel about clothing as a lesson topic? Think about the clothing you’re wearing as you read this. Can the belt you are wearing remind you of something that God does for you? What about the shoes on your feet? Does a winter coat remind you of God’s warm love for you? In the summer can a hat or scarf protect you from the hot sun something like the way God wants to keep you from harm? Does a pile of torn and dirty clothing remind you of your sinful state? What article of clothing did God choose to represent the most glorious gift of all that He offers freely to us?

1. Woven on the loom of heaven. Remember the multi-colored coat Joseph’s father gave him? In what ways is the coat that Jesus offers us superior to Joseph’s beautiful coat? Have you ever owned a white dress, trousers, or other article of white clothing and watched with dismay as it became faded and discolored—or was splashed with blood and dirt? Do we need to wait for heaven before we can wear the spotless, glowing robe of righteousness? Is this lovely white robe a reward for living a sinless life? Or can sinners also be clothed in this amazing garment? How? Or why not?
2. Filthy rags. Why does God allow church members, including leaders, to serve as role models even though their lives are spotted with sin? Do you like the image that stares at you from the mirror? Do you ever feel like saying to God, “You are so fortunate to have me in Your family”? Have you ever known someone who seemed to have the belief that he or she was a blessing to all? How does God see us as we take pleasure in ourselves? Modern methods neatly conceal the stains of menstruation, but in Bible times, what did women—and society—think of these monthly flows of blood? Why did God choose the rags that soaked up this blood as an example of our sinfulness? Is it right to be repulsed by sin?
3. Imputed, disputed. Why are the two words, imputed and imparted, so hard for us to understand and apply to the gospel story? When God sees our rotten lives and hears us cry for forgiveness, what does He do? Does anyone deserve the royal treatment God gives us when we cry out to be rescued from sin? When God offers us His righteousness and we accept, are we then perfect beings free from sin? If so, how long does that state continue? Does the robe of righteousness keep working for us even when we sin? Explain. Is imputed righteousness from God Himself? How can God cover our messy, sin-dominated lives with His holy righteousness and treat us as if we have never sinned? How should you and I feel about being offered the gift of pure righteousness?
4. A lawful believer. What do we mean by belief in the perpetuity of the law? What law? Is the robe of righteousness reserved for those who keep the law without sin? How many people since Adam and Eve qualify for such a standing before God? Does a command-keeping Christian’s belief in the law give him or her special standing in the courts of heaven? Why do some Christians have a reputation as legalists? What is harmful about such a reputation? Do you have any suggestions for changing this perspective by others of our attitude towards the law? Or should we welcome the attribution of “law-abiding?” Do you love the law? David got himself into more trouble than you and I ever thought of, but he says over and over that he loves the law. How can we love a law that condemns us?  
5. The robe that works. The drunkard writhes on the concrete walkway in his own spit and vomit, but somehow in his drunken state he senses the call of Jesus to salvation, and he accepts. Is he a Christian at that point? If so, is he clothed in Christ’s robe of righteousness? How does God see that wretched human being lying in the gutter with the broken glass and garbage of a forlorn neighborhood? How do you and I see that same person? The robe is a symbol of something else. What? How does the act of wearing Christ’s free robe of righteousness change the person from within? Is the change sudden? Comprehensive? What about people who look like us but belong to other religious persuasions? Are they wearing the robe of righteousness? If so, how should we treat them? How does God regard them?
6. Cheap grace. Chances are you have never been accused of believing in cheap grace. Why not? Why is cheap grace almost never something that people blame us Adventists for having? What is it about the term “cheap grace” that offends us so much? If “cheap” grace is bad, what does “good” grace cost? If grace is free, why isn’t it also cheap? Have you ever heard a person bemoan the fact that he or she isn’t good enough for heaven? Or that he or she has a past that makes it impossible to fit in the church? Have you ever heard a Christian seriously doubt if he or she has done “enough” to be worthy of salvation? Does the thought ever occur to you that you need to get busy and get ready or you will come short in the good deeds department at the Second Coming? What does it take to accept God’s grace as God offers it to us?
7. The Holy Spirit. How does the Holy Spirit help us struggling Christians make our way through life? What does the Holy Spirit possess that He can share with us to help us discern God’s will for us? Is the Holy Spirit our Friend? Or our Judge? Is it proper to pray to the Holy Spirit? What role does the Holy Spirit play in making the robe of righteousness our most important possession? Do you really believe it is possible for you to become more like God? How much more? What does it take to start on that pathway? 

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