Patty stroked the two incomplete crocheted blankets that had been intended for her sons, compounding her grief and loss. Patty’s mum had died before they could be finished. Masey and Jennifer, Patty’s friends, decided to step in. Although they couldn’t crochet themselves, they started a network called Loose Ends where people can volunteer to finish off craft projects that have been abandoned because of death, illness or disability. Since 2022 they have matched 1,500 unfinished projects to talented ‘finishers’. Patty found comfort in giving her mother’s blankets to her sons.
The Bible is full of stories of people who died without witnessing God’s promises fulfilled. God then passed the baton on through the generations, like the ‘finishers’ of Loose Ends, to see those projects to fruition. Abraham was promised a “city with foundations, whose architect and builder was God” (Hebrews 11:10), but in his lifetime he “lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob who were heirs with him of the same promise” (v. 9). It wasn’t until David that Abraham’s descendants would live in the city of Jerusalem.
Jesus is the ultimate finisher, the fulfilment of all promises and the bringer of our eternal home. Jaw-droppingly, “only together with us” are Abraham and David “made perfect” (v. 40). Our little lives of perseverance through suffering are somehow, through Jesus, completing and perfecting what the Old Testament saints started. Our part, however seemingly insignificant or ‘unfinished’, matters greatly.
By Tanya Marlow
REFLECT & PRAY
What promises of God are you particularly longing for at the moment? How does the faith of Abraham, Sarah and other Biblical characters encourage you?
Dear God, Author of our lives, when we are grieving the loss of incomplete projects, people taken too soon or promises unfulfilled, may we see the bigger story.
SCRIPTURE INSIGHT
The book of Hebrews was written to encourage Jewish believers in Jesus who were facing persecution (Hebrews 10:32–35) and were thus in danger of drifting away and reverting back to Judaism. The unnamed author encouraged them to live by faith and to persevere (vv. 36–39) and explained what living by faith means (11:1 ). The author listed examples of many people who’d lived by such faith to illustrate that this is the only way to please God: “Anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him” (v. 6). These faithful believers trusted God despite their adverse circumstances and the disappointment of not yet “[receiving] what had been promised” (v. 39).
K. T. Sim
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