Pattern for Life & Spirituality

Genesis 2: 2-3, Acts 2: 42-47, Job 13:15, Psalm 118: 22-24

From the opening account in Genesis, God presents us with an incredible key for life.

"By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating he had done." (Gen 2:2-3)

To work six days and to rest one is a pattern for life that God designed for each of us. Notice how he blessed the seventh day when he had completed everything he set out to create. This shows us that blessing comes to our life through pattern and completion. People who live haphazard lives, with reams of unfinished business are rarely rested, whereas people of pattern, who complete what they start live blessed because they move from one success to another.

Here are three keys to living blessed, based on a pattern we find in Acts 2:42-47. "They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favour of all the people and the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved".

From this passage we see three words which speak of pattern: devoted (v42) every day (v46) and continued (v46)

1. Devotion determines destiny (v42)

The people from this passage were regular, ordinary people from all walks of life yet they had one thing in common - Jesus. They lived so devoted to him that God "added to their number daily those who were being saved" (v47). Jesus is our greatest example as he lived devoted to us, being 'resolute' in his journey to Jerusalem (Luke 9:51). Another inspiring example of devotion is when Job lost everything but he stayed devoted to God (Job 13:15) and he eventually received his reward.

To live devoted means to give all or a large part of time and resource to something. Your diary and your bank balance will indicate what you are currently devoted to. We can choose today what our destiny will look like based on what we currently devote our time, resource and energy to. E Stanley Jones said this: "If you don't make up your mind, then your unmade mind will unmake you. Here is the place where there must be no dallying. For any dallying will be the Trojan horse that will get on the inside and open the gates to the enemy. God can do anything for the man who has made up his mind: he can do little or nothing for the double minded."

Destiny will not just happen to you, nor is it the product of chance. It is directly related to what you decide to live devoted to.

2. Your everyday shows your devotion (v46)

A day is more than just 24 hour period of time, it is a portal into your future. You can spend the rest of your days regretting a day or you can spend each day thanking God for THAT day. "This is the day the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice in it and be glad" (Ps 118:22-24.) It is worth remembering that:

• One day with God is very surprising
  

The nature of God is to confound man's wisdom and do things that we would never expect. "The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone" (Ps 118:22). Moses never expected to see a burning bush. Joseph didn't expect to go from a prison to a palace in the space of one day. Shadrach wouldn't have predicted moving from a fire to parliament all within 24 hours.

• One day with God produces more

Ever had one of those days where you play your hand and God totally gazumps you?! I love those days! "The Lord has done this and it is marvelous in our eyes" (Ps 118:23). The psalmist got it right when he said, "Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere" (Ps 84:10). One day devoted to God can produce more fruit, peace and joy than we can attain in a lifetime by ourselves.

Imagine the difference it would make if every 24 hours ahead of you were lived devoted to God. The pattern of our everyday life would paint the outline of an awesome future for God to colour in just as he has determined.

3. Continued (v46)

A pattern is only produced through its repetition or continuation. Our destiny will be the product of doing the right thing long enough, and true world changers develop over time. Jesus didn't ask you to be a 'one hit wonder', he asked you to follow him in your everyday life. The people in Acts 'continued' to meet together, developing a pattern which then invoked blessing. There was a consistency and resolution in their hearts towards God and one another. What do you do on a consistent basis, which will inevitably determine your future?

Read the paragraph below and allow it to provoke your thinking:

Who am I? I am your greatest companion. I am your greatest helper or heaviest burden. I will push you onward or drag you down to failure. I am completely at your command. Half the things I do you might just as well turn over to me and I will be able to do them quickly and correctly; I am easily managed, you must merely be firm with me. Show me exactly how you want something done and after a few lessons I will do it automatically. I am the servant of all great individuals and alas of all failures as well. Those who are great, I have made great. Those who are failures, I have made failures. I am not a machine, though I work with all the precision of a machine, plus the intelligence of a human. You may run me for a profit or run me for ruin - it makes no difference to me. Take me, train me, be firm with me, and I will place the world at your feet. Be easy with me and I will destroy you. WHO I AM? Answer? - Habits.

An English poet once said, "We first make our habits - then our habits make us!" Habits are the basis of who we are and who we want to be. They can control our now and consequently dictate our outcome. Habits are those things we CONTINUE to do. Be inspired today to live every day devoted to God and continue to put him first in thought and action.