BUILD ACCORDING TO PATTERN

MEMORY VERSE: Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, see, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount. Hebrew 8:5

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Jeremiah 37-40

When God wanted to dwell among the children of Israel, He commanded Moses to build a tabernacle for Him. A tabernacle is a place of worship. God loves worshippers. He loves those who worship Him in truth and in spirit not those after Him for bread and butter. It is easy to worship God when you have just gotten a raise in your salary. Shouting Hallelujah comes naturally, when you have just passed your driving test. Worshipping God in the beauty of His holiness is easy when your wife finally gets pregnant after five years of delay. Praising God becomes extremely difficult when you receive a letter of redundancy from your place of work. Shouting Hallelujah becomes difficult when your visa application has just been refused. A true worshipper will still praise God even after he has lost his job.

Before building the tabernacle, the Lord called Moses up to a mountain and gave him the pattern of the tabernacle. Just before work started, God reminded him to build according to the pattern shown to him. Exodus 25:40 says and look that thou make them after their pattern, which was shewed in the mount. God wants to build you to become His tabernacle. He wants you and I to be His residing place. He wants to change the world through us but to do that; we must build our life according to pattern. Who are we to pattern our life after, Jesus Christ. He spent 33 years on earth showing us how to live our lives, how to conduct ourselves, how to relate to our parents, how to speak, how to behave in marriage, how to relate to God. Are you building that relationship after the pattern of Jesus when you and your fiancé kiss and do all sorts when alone? You said he has never slept with you but you undress before him. He has never slept with you but he touches you in inappropriate places. Would Christ have built that way?

The only way to build according to the pattern of Jesus is by doing what Jesus did and avoiding what he did not do. Jesus lived a life of prayer. He prayed at all times. Anyone doing what Jesus did not do or doing what Jesus will not do is building his life after his own pattern. Many build their life after the pattern of a great man of God. They want to talk like the man of God, behave like the man of God; there is no problem in this as far as you know the man of God is building his life according to the pattern of Jesus. However, the truth is, we are not to build our life after any great hero, not even after Martin Luther, John Wesley or John Calvin. Building our life after a particular man or woman is dangerous. If they get it wrong, you will get it wrong also. Jesus never for once got angry unnecessarily; He never said a wrong word once. If someone cuts Jesus in traffic, I can assure you; He will not swear at them or show them the middle finger. Jesus will not see black and call it white. Jesus will not attend a nightclub or go to a strip club. Jesus will never get into a physical fight or verbal abuse. He will never use the ‘F’ word, the ‘C’ word, or any offensive language. Jesus was not a rebellious youth; He was into neither the pop culture nor punk culture. He was not a Rastafarian. Many of our youths today are building their lives according to the pattern of a rock star. Many are building their life according to what they see on soap operas and movies. We cannot build our life after the pattern of a character in a secular soap opera or romance novel and expect the Lord to make us His tabernacle.

TO PONDER: What are the things you are doing that you know Christ will never do , repent immediately and turn a new leaf.

Bro Samuel – Reaching the world for Jesus.