The importance of the pattern

We have all these great people around us as examples. Their lives tell us what faith means. So we, too, should run the race that is before us and never quit. We should remove from our lives anything that would slow us down and the sin that so often makes us fall. (Hebrews 12:1)

If you stop very long to consider some of the examples you have patterned your life after, you might just decide you fashion sense didn't improve, your financial situation really hasn't done much for you, and your relationship isn't any stronger than it was before. Why? They are 'faulty' patterns at best. We need to understand the importance of the 'pattern' before we just 'willy-nilly' follow it. I used to sew by pattern all of the time, but when I got confident enough, I often set out with the pattern and didn't follow the order of the instructions. That usually resulted in some seam ripping in the end! The importance of having both the pattern and the instructions cannot be negated!

The pattern gives us the 'pieces' we need to make our life, but the 'instructions' actually show us how the various pieces all fit together properly. If we look at our life examples again, we will see some very good things within those 'patterns', but they are only pieces of the whole. We need God's instructions on how to take those 'pieces' and use them within our lives in a way that brings our life together whole, complete in every way. Sometimes we find it hard to understand the instructions, much less figure out how to follow them. With some sewing patterns I used to get, if I neglected to really read the instructions from start to finish, I didn't understand the importance to the 'order' of the instructions.

God may not give us all his instructions at one time because he knows the importance of us following them in a particular order. He may not lead us to examples of those instructions all at one time, but he will unfold those 'patterned lives' before us intermittently so that we can see the instructions lived out in many different scenarios. Why? Life never comes at us the same way every day! There will be times when his instructions seem hard, but then we see the example he gives us of that instruction 'lived out' and we begin to see how the 'pieces' of his instruction guide us to live complete and holy lives. 

We each are unique, and we see God's instructions through the 'uniqueness' of our lives. Wouldn't it be a shame to waste the examples we are given, especially when we don't fully understand the importance of the instructions we have received in his Word? Just askin!