A pastor visited a woman who had been confined to bed, and when talking about her family, she asked him to get an envelope of old photos from her drawer.
He found the letter under a beautiful folded tablecloth. He asked her about the cloth and she invited him to look at it. He marvelled at the hand-made lace and the delicate embroidery. It was exquisite! It must have taken years to make.
She told him her grandmother had made it for her as a wedding present more than 50 years ago. She had never used it because it was so beautiful and she didn’t want to spoil it.
How sad! This cloth, painstakingly hand made for a much loved granddaughter, had been hidden away, preserved in immaculate condition but never used and enjoyed. I am sure the grandmother would rather see it with a few stains and repairs and know it had brought pleasure to the one she loved.
Maybe we can’t say the cloth was abandoned, because it was cherished – but it was unused and had lain useless for years.
The intention for which it was given was abandoned.
LESSONS FROM THE CLOTH
1. The cloth was a gift of love.
God gave us a Gift, that of His own beloved Son:
the most precious and costly Gift of all time
– not costly to us, the recipients, but extremely costly to the Giver.
Do we ‘hide away’ His Gift,
or do we share Him with the whole world?
Do we “display” Him so that others can see Him?
Are we quick to tell those we meet of the great love of our God
and the life-changing merits of the Saviour?
2. The cloth was meant to be used.
God also gave us gifts and talents to use in His service,
for the benefit of the Church.
The old saying
‘What on earth are we doing for heaven’s sake’
takes on new meaning
when we consider the power in gifts He has given us.
Do we use them to advance His cause on earth,
to His honour and glory?
What about the gift of being able to COMMUNICATE
and enjoy FELLOWSHIP with the great God of creation?
Do we delight to spend time with Him in prayer
and make it a priority?
Or do we put this gift away, thankful for it,
but only think about it in times of need or emergency?
Do we delight in using this gift all day, every day,
in every circumstance?
What about the gift of His Word?
His love letter to us speaks of the very heart of God
and His desires for us.
Do we spend time in it, allowing Him to draw us closer to Himself –
or do we leave it on the shelf?
Do we treasure, meditate on and memorise His Word –
and allow it to work in our lives?
Maybe we will assert that the gifts God has so freely given to us
are not abandoned.
OK, that is too strong a word to use.
However, they were given with a definite purpose.
They were given to be used, and used, and used.
They were given to achieve a purpose.
When I stand at the Judgement Seat of Christ
And He shows me His plan for me;
The plan of my life as it might have been
Had He had His way – and I see
How I blocked Him here, and checked Him there,
And I would not yield my will –
Will there be grief in my Saviour’s eyes,
Grief, though He loves me still?
Lord of the years that are left to me,
I give them to Thy hand.
Take me and break me and mould me
To the pattern Thou hast planned.
(Martha Snell Nicholson)
MEETING IN THE CLOUDS 
May God continue His blessings upon you and you family, for you are a true blessings to others.
Freely received freely given!
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Thank you. He does bless abundantly.
We serve an amazing God!
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This was great! Thanks for sharing. :)
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And thank you too
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Angela, what a beautiful word of encouragement today! The analogy you shared was wonderful! How many times have we fallen short of glorifying God with our gifts, wholly and completely? How many times have we fallen short of communicating with God, and reading His word? Yet, our God remains faithful! I’m so happy for the privilege of talking to Jesus whenever I want to. He’s always there, and will hear my humble cry, praise God! Thank you so much, for instructing us to do those things we know we should do, yet are slack at times, to our own hurt. God bless you, as you share what the Lord has placed on your heart! :-)
Paulette
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Thanks Paulette. I can’t understand WHY this would have been placed in spam – certainly NOT spam! I wonder if some of my comments to a few friends might also be in their spam, because comments I KNOW I posted on their posts are not there.
I agree Paulette. As you say it is “to our own hurt” when we fail to use the benefits God has supplied. We receive so much joy when we follow His commands and principles, that it doesn’t make sense when we don’t . . . and yet we sometimes choose our own (waaaaaaay inferior) way. How it must grieve our Lord!
“Take me and break me and mould me
To the pattern Thou hast planned.”
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Amen!
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I am so very blessed to be able to write every day, as God has always wanted me to do–but I just recently stopped beating myself up, because I could see that all the other things I was doing over the decades were actually being written in my heart, to share now in my senior years! I praise His holy name for giving me the “cloth” of His Son and His Holy Spirit and His Word!
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Thanks for adding that personal testimony Granbee. As we of senior years look back over our lives, we can see the hand of the Lord all the way through. We see that so much of His work in us was preparation for the next step, and the next. What a great privilege it is to be molded by the Master Potter and used for His honour and glory.
We serve an amazing God!
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Praying this prayer with you Angela! Oh Lord please redeem the time!
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I really believe time is running out and that should make us more determined than ever to allow the Lord to use us to reach our loved ones, friends and strangers with the Good News of the Gospel before it is too late.
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Thank you, Angela
What a wonderfully beautiful illustration! The tablecloth lost no value by sitting there unused, but the owner lost all the pleasure that could have been derived … Is there a lesson in there somewhere? ;-)
“Lord of the years that are left to me,
I give them to Thy hand.
Take me and break me and mould me
To the pattern Thou hast planned.”
I am yours, Lord. Amen
God bless you: One-who-teaches,
I am thankful for your ministry.
ann
Lord, I give You my heart…
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Yes Ann there is a lesson in your added thought. Thank you for adding it. I do believe we waste so much of what the Lord has given us, simply by not using His many blessings and His work on our behalf . . . and in doing so, we rob ourselves. We serve an amazing God who DELIGHTS to be our strength and to give us victory.
Thanks for adding the video. Indeed it is our desire to honour Him.
What an amazing God!
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Thank you, dear Mentor Angela, for another impacting post and analogy. You have me thinking about how we can use and use and use what He gives us, and never wear it out or use it up! I think it’s time for me to echo you . . .What an amazing God! :)
God bless you and yours, as you continue to make yourself available and do not hide away! love and prayers!
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Thank you Debbie. How can anyone who knows Him NOT declare He is amazing? He never ceases to amaze us! I will never understand how the all-powerful, perfect, Creator God could even give one thought to this His created being, but He does so much more! He loves me so much that He gave His most Precious for me and He continues to love me, showering His blessings upon me. Amazing? Incredible! Inexplicable! And yet it is so, and He proves it over and over and over again!
What an amazing God!
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This post is “full” of wonderful words and truths from His Holy Word~~it really made me desire to read word. That isn’t something I usually do. I thank God through the Lord Jesus Christ that you wrote this, based on His inspiration indeed.
May you be as blessed for sharing this as I am by reading it. We serve a truly Wonderful Father and Lord. In His love…
~streim~
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Thank you, alwayzhis. When we consider the greatness of our God and all He has done for us, how can we do other than follow Him and obey His calling. After all, He only desires the very, very best for us and we know from experience that there is no better place to be than in the centre of His will.
What an amazing God!
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My only reply is a loud shout “Amen and Praise You Lord”!
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One of my greatest fears is not using the gifts He has given me to glorify Him. We can fail Him in one of two ways… 1. not using the gifts He has given to us or 2. us the gifts He’s given us to bring praise and glory to ourselves. In either case, it is an abuse of His precious gifts. Lord bless you Angela!
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We totally agree on this one Rob! (I don’t think we have disagreed on anything).
When I give a gift I like to know it is appreciated and well used, not put away in a drawer somewhere. How much more would my loving Father desire me to use the gifts He has given! And He would desire them to be used the right way, for the purpose they were given, with all glory given to Him!
When I retired from my voluntary work with the children’s ministry, I thought the avenue for using my gifts was gone, but guess what? God had other ideas and new avenues opened and His gifts are still being used.
What an amazing God!
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How wonderful Angela that we won’t be judged in Heaven, as sinners are because we have repented of our sins and they were taken from us as far as the east is to the west and God does not keep a record of wrongs.The works that He has prepared in advance for us to do, He equipes and motivates us to do them and when we are Born again of God’s seed, we do not sin, we have His nature so we do not choose to sin because we have the mind of Christ and He does not choose to sin. 1 Corinthians2:9-16
1John 3:4-11 Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. But you know that He appeared so that He might take away our sins. And in Him is no sin. No one who lives in Him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen Him or known Him. Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. He who does what is right is righteous, just as He is righteous. He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work. No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God. This is how we know who the Children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not Love his brother.
Christian Love from us both – Anne.
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Hi Anne.
Yes! One of the greatest blessings of becoming a child of God is receiving absolute forgiveness of sin – ‘just-as-if-I’d’ never sinned. My sin was judged in Christ when He became sin for us, and He paid the penalty for me when God poured out His wrath on my sin in Christ. What an amazing Saviour!
Because of His work for us, we will never appear before the Great White Throne where all sinners will be judged. However, we know that believers ‘must all appear before the Judgement Seat of Christ’ [2 Corinthains 5:10] and that some of our ‘works’ will be as gold, silver and precious stones, and some will be as wood, hay and stubble.
I want my works to be gold, silver and precious stones, to HIS glory. Sometimes I am slow to respond to His calling. Sometimes I rush ahead of Him and sometimes I lag behind. Sometimes I tend to try doing things in my own strength rather than allowing Him to work in
and through me. Sometimes I allow my old nature to raise its ugly head and I get impatient or angry or lazy. And the list goes on . . .
Sometimes I fail to use the gifts He has given me and sometimes I use them wrongly. Sometimes I don’t cherish the privilege as I should. Surely that must grieve the heart of the Father but He loves me still and continues to use me.
What an amazing God!
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Hi Angela, one thing I enjoy when blogging with Australians is that we can reason together without taking offence, not that we agree to disagree, this is not what God asks us to do, instead we take our differences to Him and He shows us who is in error, we are to be in Unity and to be of one mind and if we have the mind of Christ we will be. The Holy Spirit does not say one thing to one person and something differant to another if they contradict 1 Corinthians 2:9-16. This means we first need to seek God’s wisdom with all our heart ( see link below ) or we will remain in darkness, if we think we know it all without His wisdom, which we are not born with, we will be in error regardless of what we have been taught or think we know. http://alifeofhopeandjoy.wordpress.com/category/woman-of-kingdom-wisdom
Man’s worldly understanding, reasoning and fleshy logic which is very much in the Churches today has lead to deception and distorted the Scriptures, including leaving out essential Truths. We are not to reject Scripture, change it, twist it, or ignore it… no where in Scripture does it tell us we continue to sin after we have been Born again, it says the opposite.
1 John 3: 9 No one who is Born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been Born of God.
Salvation is indeed a free gift that is accepted by heart repentance which means choosing to turn away from evil and doing good by the empowering of The Holy Spirit, we can not earn it as some Religions and Cults claim but the Scriptures tell us we will show we have it. This is why God tells us to aim for perfection in Love which includes Holiness, Love does not sin ( see below 1John 3:1-11 and as we choose to walk in the Fruit of The Spirit by His empowering our flesh is put to death or as some call it our Old Nature , we are Born again of God’s seed and have His Nature, then as we increase in the good fruit we mature instead of remaining childish in our beliefs and actions. It’s like a Garden if you want beautiful flowers or good fruit you prepare the ground, get rid of the weeds, fertilise, water and pray for Sun. We pray to The Son!
There is much Scripture that confirms Freedom in Christ Jesus that I’m willing to share with you Angela on your Blog, mine or by e-mail, my address is in my About.
Christian Love Anne.
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