MAKING THE 'GRADE'

I was sewing a little dress for my 4-year-old granddaughter when the pattern's directions reminded me of a word I hadn't heard in a while: “grade.” Reaching back to my high school home economics classes (half a century ago!), I recalled the revelation that “grade” refers to how seams on curves (like for collars or faced arm holes) needed to be clipped and then one side cut closer to the seam stitches. That way, when turned right-side out, the seam wouldn't be as bulky. So “grade” I did.

That got me thinking about how Christians need to undergo some “grading” by the Master Tailor. I'm not talking some A-B-C (like in school) of how “spiritual” you are. Rather, it's how He sees parts of our fallen personality that need to be cut away so that His better plan for our lives can be achieved. That's the point of Hebrews 12, which focuses on how spiritual discipline (trimming and cutting ungodly traits and habits) is part of God's plan to grow us as children of faith. “Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best,” Hebrews 12:10 says, “but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in His holiness.” The eventual result is to be “a harvest of righteousness and peace” (v. 11).

The Bible doesn't give a lot of ink to seamstresses, but we can rightfully conclude that hand-sewing clothes of hand-loomed fabric was an intensive process. The Old Testament priests wore specially-hand-tailored and embellished uniforms (Exodus 28). We also know about a New Testament believer, Dorcas, who gifted the poor with her sewing (Acts 9). Jesus' clothing included a seamless undergarment, so special that the soldiers who crucified Him gambled to see who'd get it (John 19:23-24).

Perhaps a better picture of the value of handcrafts comes from the construction of the temple. It wasn't thrown together haphazardly. The stones were cut and groomed to precision measurements before being taken to the temple building side. And there's the analogy. The Christian walk is not just “saying a prayer” and then making minor lifestyle adjustments. It's a radical change from the original raw “me.” It's letting God chisel away the rough and ungodly parts until we're shaped for His kingdom:

You also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 2:5)

To pull it back to the imagery of clothing construction, we're to be like carefully-crafted garments to reflect the holiness and beauty of God. Haphazard living—ignoring sin here and there—is like a wiggly zipper or a puckered collar. When God decides to “grade” (trim) us in the process of spiritual growth, He has good reason for it.

The little dress (sundress or jumper) I sewed my granddaughter wasn't perfect, but it was the best I could do. I made the skirt extra full so she could twirl in it and pretend she was a ballerina. She will outgrow it, of course, as I hope she will also outgrow childish ways and steadily become a woman of God. It will mandate regular “grading”--trimming away of attitudes and behaviors that are wrong—but the end result will be worth it.

Yesterday was my mother's birthday. She was born in 1919 and died at 59 in 1978, leaving behind a crammed "sewing room."