Don't Conform, But Transform

For some reason, God has had this scripture stuck in my head for about the last week. It is Romans 12:1-2, which reads, "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God."

Now, I don't do this often, but I happened to read this same scripture in The Message translation, and here's how they interpret it: "So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you."

The website, www.truthortradition.com , has some interesting things to say about this. Rather than try to put it into my own words, I will copy it verbatim. Here is part of what they say: This verse has great truth buried within it. For one thing, the words “conformed to this world” are one Greek word, suschematizo, which means, “to form according to a pattern or mold.” Furthermore, the word “world” is not kosmos, the created world, but rather aion, or “age.” Why is that important for us to know? The word aion does not just mean “age” in the sense that it is a finite period of time. The linguist Richard Trench gives a good idea of its meaning.

“Aion came to mean all that exists in the world under conditions of time.... Aion includes all the thoughts, opinions, maxims, speculations, impulses, and aspirations present in the world at any given time, which may be impossible to accurately define but which still constitute a real and effective power—the moral or immoral atmosphere we breathe.”

Christians must face the fact that the Devil has created an “atmosphere” in this world that is ungodly, and which leads people away from God and into sin. That “atmosphere” of ungodliness is as real as the country-western atmosphere in a country-western bar, or the Asian atmosphere in an oriental restaurant. Furthermore, the Devil’s intent in creating an ungodly atmosphere is to have people conform to it just as if they were conforming to a mold. That is why God tells us that we must not be conformed to the pattern, the mold, of the world.

As Christians, we must become spiritual meteorologists. We must become sensitive to the spiritual atmosphere around us, and able to recognize how we are being influenced, and whether that influence is godly or ungodly. The spiritual atmosphere we live in influences almost everything we think or do. For example, how do we speak to each other? Caustically and sarcastically, like the people in the television comedies speak to each other, or do our words convey love, encouragement, and compassion? Do we dress to impress (often sexually), or do we dress with a view to letting the Christ in us shine through our lives? Do we go into debt to have a car that will “Wow” our neighbors and make us feel powerful, or are we concerned about “Wowing” the Lord Jesus Christ? What is important to us? Is it things that have a firm root in Scripture, such as helping and blessing others, or is it isolating ourselves for hours at a time watching television or playing video games, in the end contributing nothing meaningful to ourselves or our society?

If we do not become spiritual meteorologists, we will be led, usually without even realizing it, into a life of ungodliness, sorrow, and pain. We must become aware of the atmospheric mold the Devil is trying to squeeze us into, and then have enough love for God and ourselves that we refuse to live in the ungodly lifestyle he lays before us daily, but instead recognize who we are in Christ and what we can do for ourselves and our society, and then get about doing it.

I know this was a long blog, but it seems very important to post it at this time. I pray that God puts these words in front of the one that needs them. Be a light in the darkness. Make a difference. Be different. Revive us, O Lord!!!