Creative partnership

5:31 p.m. Today's project is to prepare a brief devotional for our second Heart to Home session, Lisa Martinez' "Class-y Jewelry." She will have a nice group of about seven, who will create beautiful necklaces and matching earrings in two consecutive meetings. The class begins tomorrow night.

I will be opening each weekly class with a brief devotional, because I believe that God has called me to lead this ministry by inspiration of the Word of God. Heart to Home is a part of our women's ministry, based on Titus 2:3-5, that the older women "be teachers of good things," admonishing the younger women to be women of God. Even though our weekly format will look different from the past large annual event, our mission is the same!

Praying and pondering about Lisa's class, I thought about jewels and jewelry in scripture. In Genesis 24:53, Abraham's servant had traveled to find a bride for Isaac, and when Rebekah appeared in exact response to his prayer, he sent her to her father with "jewelry of silver, jewelry of gold," denoting the wealth of his master and his son.

In Exodus 3:21-22, God told Moses: "I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians; and it shall be, when you go, that you shall not go empty-handed. But every woman shall ask of her neighbor, namely, of her who dwells near her house, articles of silver and articles of gold...thus shall you plunder the Egyptians." Later, skilled craftsmen fashioned the wealth of Egypt into articles for the taberbacle in the wilderness, which the people offered so willingly that there was much more than could be used! The gold and silver of a pagan nation at enmity with God, ended up as sacred objects for the worship of God!

Every element found on earth, from grains of sand to diamonds and rubies, was created by God, and He delights in sharing His creation with us to use for His glory! All skills and abilities come from Him as well--we have only to prayerfully study and learn what we have been gifted for. Let the Holy Spirit show you what He would have you do to bless others! God "has given us all things richly to enjoy," I Timothy 6:17 says, and the satisfaction we receive from participating with God in creating beautiful and useful things is one of life's deepest pleasures.

Jewels are written of as highly prized and comparable to the highest of human qualities in scripture. Proverbs 20:15 says, "There is gold and a multitude of rubies" (ironically, as if they were plentiful and common), "but the lips of knowledge are a precious jewel." And Proverbs 24:3-4, the theme of our first Heart to Home event six years ago, says, "Through wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is established. By knowledge the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches."

Knowledge and wisdom, wisdom and knowledge! How frequently believers are admonished to gain and possess these bejeweled qualities. "Wisdom is the principal thing, therefore get wisdom," Proverbs 4:7 says.

According to Psalm 11:10 what is wisdom? "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom."

Wisdom--the learning that draws righteous and right conclusions from experience is, according to scripture, the crown jewel of human character-- character founded in knowing who God is!