Penitence

IN my tradition we follow the season of Lent - a time of reflection and preparation for Jesus death and resurrection. It lasts for 40 days (not including Sundays) to echo the time that Jesus spent in the desert preparing for his ministry. I have chosen one of the themes of Lent as our next challenge -

Penitence

Which I would put simply as "being aware of what we have done wrong and seeking God's forgiveness" or having a sense of regret for sin and wanting to make a sincere change. The focal reading for me is this one 1 John 1:8-9
"If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness."
Which comes before the prayer of confession in some orders of worship. What does it mean to be aware of our wrong doing and of the forgiveness we receive through Jesus Christ? How can we sincerely make a change in our lives? There are many ways that the word and the reading may take you.

If you feel lead to create something based on this week's topic, please leave us a comment with a link back to your blog or gallery. We'd love to share in your creation. Here is how the design team explored the challenge.

Lythan

Hazel


Kim
Tanis

Julie

Ruth

Pauline

Stacy

Renew

Renew-to make again; to start over again.

When Spring comes after a long 6 months of Winter in Alberta, Canada. I always feel rejuvinated, renewed and restored. So with Spring just over a week away renew has been a strong presence in my mind. So when i thought about my topic i feel lead to share this with you, Romans 12:2 states

“ And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God."

The message breaks it down for us like this

Place Your Life Before God
1-2 So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

Just as the spring rains renew the earth so my soul feels refreshed by him. Take an opprotunity to place your life before GOD..................

Keep Yourself from Idols - I John 5:21

Hello all of our dear crafting friends! We're so thankful that you've taken the time to come visit the SALT blog and pray that this fortnight's challenge will not only be a blessing to you but encourage you to participate by creating a project based on this week's theme of Keep Yourself from Idols, taken from I John 5:21, "Little children, keep yourselves from idols."

The idea for this week's challenge came to me by way of a short blurb from my (Kim) church's bulletin, titled "Me, Worship Idols?" The paragraph in the bulletin was from a book by Ed Welch, The Journal of Biblical Counseling in a section that deals with addictions. (I want to note that although this section from Mr. Welch's book is dealing with addictions, my goal is to focus more on how we create idols of the heart that may not be as outwardly noticeable).

"One of the most common portrayals of the human condition, and one which captures both the in-control and out-of-control experiences of addictions, is the theme of idolatry. From this perspective, the true nature of all addictions is that we have chosen to go outside the boundaries of the kingdom of God and look for blessing in the land of idols. In turning to idols, we are saying that we desire something in creation more than we desire the Creator. This sounds like strange language to Western ears, but idolatry is perhaps the most dominant image in Scripture and it abounds in potential applications. Did you ever notice how many Biblical stories could be summarized with these questions? Who will you worship? The Creator or the created thing? God or man? The Divine King or worthless idols? The basic story line of the Old Testament is about people who find idolatry irresistible. Then God, ultimately through Jesus, comes to rescue His people out of their enslaving practices."

One of the things that struck me from this writing is that I too frequently struggle with idolizing my work, keeping a schedule, or something I deem, based on my actions, as more important than Christ. When I get very busy, I have a tendency to have a "just a minute" attitude towards God. Thinking, "I'll pray and read just as soon as I finish this thing" and of course more and more things come into my day but I too often fail to make time to spend with God. And isn't that a form of idolatry? It reminds me of the text in Matthew 26:16, "for what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his sown soul." At the end of the day, although God, through His providence, may bring many distractions into our lives, is anything as important as Christ?

The good, or should I say great news, is that Christ came into the world to break the power of sin, to enable us to do those things that we're unable to do on our own, if we would simply seek Him in repentance and faith.

If you feel lead to create something based on this week's topic, please leave us a comment with a link back to your blog or gallery. We'd love to share in your creation!!

And before I leave, I wanted to mention that one of our dear design team members, Mona, has decided to step down. We have been delighted to have gotten to know Mona and to see all of her beautiful creations. We'll miss you Mona!!

Lastly, I wanted to thank our participants from our last challenge on prayer, Fiona and Martha. Thank you ladies for joining us!!

Kim

Hazel

Julie

Lythan

Tanis

Pauline

Ruth



Stacy