Patterns of Living

UV 1450/10,000 Patterns of Living

In that day, saith the LORD of hosts, will I take thee, O Zerubbabel, my servant, the son of Shealtiel, saith the LORD, and will make thee as a signet: for I have chosen thee, saith the LORD of hosts.

Haggai 2 v 23

At the appointed hour in human history God took the descendant of David or a Zerubbabel and chose Him to be the Messiah. The Messiah Jesus was a natural descendant of King David though He is spiritually the Son and only Son of God. Just as Zerubbabel played a key role in laying the foundation of the temple of God in Jerusalem during the Babylonian captivity, Jesus lays the foundation of our faith lives. He offers Himself as the cornerstone of grace. He builds the walls and sees us through to completion. Every single thing we think, speak or do is either laying a brick or demolishing a brick in the house of our future, our eternal home and the temple of God. Zerubbabel was a governor of those times. Each of us likewise is a governor first of our own lives and the gifts, resources and responsibilities the Lord has entrusted to us to manage and be good stewards of. Each of us is chosen of God. We are chosen for a reason and for a purpose. Our chosenness makes us not part of the elite of the world but the elect of God like Zerubbabel. The spirit of God is upon us even as He was upon Jesus during His earthly sojourn. We are not only chosen, we are anointed. We are not only anointed, we are empowered. We are not only empowered but we are equipped and enabled by grace.


God gave the signet ring of authority to Jesus to organize or ordain the affairs of state of the Kingdom of God. Everything we do has a certain pattern following the acronym BASK or a composite of Belief, Attitudes, Skills and Knowledge. A pattern essentially has several components or elements woven into it. These elements blend into each other and the warp and woof of life. Bezalel, the craftsman whom God chose through Moses to adorn the tabernacle of the Lord wove certain skillful patterns into the design and layout of the temple. We need to have an eating pattern, a consumption pattern, a giving pattern, an exercise pattern, a communication pattern, a worship pattern, a work pattern, a fellowship pattern, a thought pattern, an emotions pattern that pleases the Lord. For instance, our communication pattern should be such that it builds up faith –faith in oneself, faith in others and faith in the Triune God. Anything that is out of tune with this objective will stand out like a discordant note played in an orchestra. Our eating or consumption pattern should have an element of thanksgiving to the Lord, an element of sharing, an element of enjoyment and an element of self control. If there is an element of gluttony or greed, it militates against the spirit of the Lord. Our exercise pattern should be marked by regularity, discipline, caution to avoid excesses as well as too little of it.


Our worship pattern should be marked by complete surrender, rejoicing in the spirit, intake of the Word to increase our knowledge of the Lord, thanksgiving, adoration, silence, continual prayer and purity of thoughts, motives and life. Our thought pattern needs to be positive, holistic, wholesome, practical and creative. It should equally reinforce our positive thoughts and negate our negative ones. We should take every thought captive to the Word. Our emotional pattern should be balanced, joyful, stable, strong. Our work pattern should have elements of discipline, determination, creativity, cost effectiveness, diligence and going the extra mile. Our investment pattern should be a composite of shrewdness, knowledge, forethought. Our giving pattern should be marked by regularity, generosity, diligence . There should be a connecting thread of faith, wisdom and grace running through all the patterns of our lives.


Prateep V Philip