PATTERNS OF LIVING

PATTERNS OF LIVING

We all learn how to live by following patterns. When we learn to read, we repeat our alphabet over and over until it becomes imbedded in our brains. When we learn to play an instrument or to use the computer we will memorize the basics and implant the patterns in our minds by doing them over and over. Time goes by and things that we have done over and over again we will automatically do, good and bad.

Most of us don't need to think about walking, we automatically put one foot in front of the other until we get where we want to go. When I was growing up I belonged to a club whose motto was "we learn by doing". Spiritually the same law applies, perhaps this is why some of us must keep going through the same thing over and over again, God wants us to learn something and we just haven't gotten it yet. We must train our hearts the way we train our brains. It is not enough to know His Word perfectly, although the better we know His Word the better equipped we are, but if we just memorize the basics and don't do them when the time comes that we need them we will have a harder time trying to understand what's happening to us and why. The Bible bears this out when it says in;

"Romans 12:2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is-- his good, pleasing and perfect will." (NIV)

What pattern are you living?

Linda Knox Rubenack - 1990