Are You Following the Master Pattern?

  
   "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." (Hebrews 8:5)



     When I was a young child, I wanted to make a quilt made from squares of scrap fabric. Mom made one square for me to use as the "pattern". I began cutting squares out using this pattern and using a needle and thread to sew them together. Eventually, I began to notice that the squares began to be different sizes. They began to get smaller the longer I sewed. I asked mom what happened. She asked me, "Are you still cutting these squares using the master pattern?" I said, "No, I use the last square to cut the next one, then use the next one to cut the next one" and so on. She informed me that was the problem. She said each piece cut would gradually get smaller then if it was used as a pattern, the piece cut from it would be even smaller. Therefore, each piece would become smaller. She told me to go back to only using the master pattern and only then would everything measure up.  That made sense after she explained it to me. 

     Jesus is the Master pattern that we are to measure our lives by every day. If we measure our lives by Him every single day of our lives, then our lives will fit into His plan for our lives. However, most of us tend to measure our lives by what we did last year, last month, last week or yesterday. If we do that, we will not measure up to the standard God has set for us. We must always hold our lives up to Him to see if we measure up. We will come up short every time we try to do things our way. We will become less like the pattern and farther from the intended purpose.
   

"There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death."  (Proverbs 14:12).

      What or who are you patterning your life after? Are you doing what grandma and grandpa always did? Are you always doing things the way mom and dad did them? Do you continue to do things the way you have always done them; yet always coming up short? or, are you truly patterning your life after Christ and His Words? His way always works out for our good.  His way is always right and perfect. We should strive to be Christlike; and not be content to be any less.