More Than - week 2 - devotional thought 1

We talked about patterns our lives follow this last Sunday at Real Life.  Today I was thinking about the different types of patterns there are.

The obvious ones are patterns for building something - perhaps a poll barn or putting together a book shelf or maybe a pattern to make a piece of clothing.  But there are also patterns in the buildings we see.  Shapes and curves and angles form patterns that are often mirrored from one side to the other.  I was looking at the floor of the old Food 4 Less building today and there was a pattern in the tile on the floor - where the freezers and bins used to be created a pattern.  There are shape patterns and number patterns and even musical patterns.  My oldest son Trevor comes home and shares the patters he's learned while studying for his Percussion Performance degree.  My son Trent loves to draw and uses patterns in his art.  There are patterns  to the movement of my daughter on the basketball court and my youngest son, who believes he can fix anything, sees patters in pretty much any mechanical thing.  Patters are all around us.

Maybe you've struggled with a different kind of pattern.  A pattern of abuse.  A pattern of addiction.  You've recognized it.  You do pretty well and everything is going okay and then you fall off the wagon again.  It's a pattern you can't seem to shake.

Yesterday we looked at a couple patterns that the people of Jesus day followed.  Matthew 5 - 7 addresses many of these patterns as Jesus uses them to contrast what He desires for our lives.  But I want to look at something he says before He begins to list the different patters of behavior He discusses.

In Matthew 5 Jesus is teaching the people who have come to listen and He's really rocking their world.  He starts out with a list of people, down and out folks, people who don't usually mean much to others.  He talks about the meek, the mourning, the merciful and the peacemakers, to name a few.  He tells His listeners that these people who have been of little account up until now are actually highly valued by His Father.  And then He starts talking about the kind of pattern that people should be but He uses the commodities of salt and light.

He says, "You are the salt of the earth" and the "Light of the world."

Salt and light each have a dramatic effect on the situations they are introduced into.  My family has always been huge popcorn eaters.  Nearly every night we have popcorn.  Once or twice my wife has forgotten the salt.  Have you ever had popcorn without the salt?  Terrible!  You can tell right away that something is NOT right.  But you add the salt and immediately everything is okay.  I remember playing hide and seek as a kid in the dark of night when someone shined a flashlight on you it was almost paralyzing it was so bright.

Think of salt and light like patterns.  They have a direct and dramatic effect when they are introduced.  There is no comparison between the dark and the light.  Darkness is scary and difficult to maneuver but the light is cheerful and makes everything clear.  Unseasoned food is bland and boring.  But add some salt and your taste buds sing!  That should be the pattern we follow in our lives.  If there were a "cut-out" to trace around for light and salt that is what we should be.  Our lives should have a direct and dramatic effect on the lives of those around us.  Our light should make their path more clear.  Our lives should season their life and add value to it.

Many Christians though need a paradigm shift (pattern shift) in their lives.  Too many of us reproduce a pattern of dullness and darkness so that others are not drawn to our Savior, Jesus Christ, but pushed away from Him by our actions and attitudes.

This week consider your pattern.  Do you add beauty to your surroundings?  Does your life oil the flow of interaction and inter-personal relationships?  Do you bring clarity and focus?  What pattern do you follow?  How can you be salt and light in your situation?