Warp and Weft

There is at present a charming online instruction video . . . how to make your own loom, for beginners.  It requires nothing more than sturdy cardboard, a few tacks and some yarn!  One “warp” strand, from top to bottom, won’t create a tapestry, nor even a belt, but a very few can be the beginning of something useful.

There are habits of righteousness that will establish us in peace.  Truly, the Lord sees through posturing and a convent the size of Manhattan would not touch His heart if they were only there to feel better about themselves.  However, there are spiritual athletes in and out of monasteries who train in devotion and in righteousness (Hebrews 5:14,) and who do win an imperishable crown.  That’s our cloister, and most of theirs, too.  

Our path winds through the valleys and over the mountains that will bring us to joy and peace in believing.  The love and humility of Jesus Christ are boundary markers, rich-hued cord bordering our tapestry, keeping us on the road.  We establish many absolutes, and they keep from wandering far afield; they keep the weaving straight and true.  Here is a selection to which many could be added.  Picture them as the finest, strongest twill strung on a loom like strings on a harp.

·      God is for us; for us, and to live is Christ and to die is gain.  (Philippians 1:21)

·      He has given us great and precious promises through which we participate in the divine nature! (2 Peter 1:4)

·      Our iniquity is taken away, and we are given a new nature.  (Hebrews 10:22)

·      We are, even now, seated in heaven in Christ Jesus. (Colossians 3:1,2)

·      In bearing the burdens of others, we fulfill the law of Christ. (Galatians 6:2)

·      It is the Father’s good pleasure to give us the kingdom! (Luke 12:32)

·      The “place” Jesus prepared for us is not in heaven, it is in Him.  (John 14:1-4)

See how these cords become to us the warp of our devotional lives!  But it is difficult to weave upon our beliefs, when they are mental assent, alone. Faith … without works … is dead.  So we string our harps and we warp our looms.  We give to God what is God’s, and we give to men what we get in return!  (Acts 3:6) 

We make plans both to quiet our souls and to stir up our devotion.  We find time to sit with Him, to hear Him, to enjoy the incomparable pleasure of His nearness, with no other agenda, and we take up the art of spiritual warfare as well, with spiritual weapons sharp, two-edged, and at the ready on behalf of the afflicted.

All we need to know can be learned within the boundaries of God-given warp cords, of the truth of the Gospel, the love of the Father, and of our new life in the Son.  We have spoken almost daily of making our hearts to be a cloister where we abide in Him and He will remain with us.  Through our strengths and shortcomings, in privileges and lack, broad vistas and tiny viewfinders, all moving toward the end that His glory may be seen in us, and that we will see His glory!  

by permission,
Claude Renault