Conformed

“and do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind,”  Romans 12:2

Conformed– EXTRA!  EXTRA!  Read all about it.  I need to make a correction.  In literary circles its called errata.  But in spiritual circles it’s called “sin”.  Conformity to this world is sin in God’s view.  What’s amazing is how easily we conform without even knowing it. 

In January we looked at the word “impurity” (January 31).  The Greek word was about cleansing.  The Bible says over and over that no amount of ritual conformity on our part will ever make us holy and acceptable to God.  Only God can do the real cleansing.  People who are still practicing the art of self-justification are not cleansed, no matter how religious they may be.  They still believe that they can become pure on their own.  Now we know that if we associate with those who flaunt God’s sovereignty, we are tainted with their impurity. 

But Rick Warren made a comment that corrected something I said.  I said we need to remove ourselves from this impurity.  Rick told me that we need to “insulate” ourselves.  We are still in the world.  In fact, we are called to be in this world as beacons of light in the dark.  But we are not to participate in the patterns of this world.  We are not to be suschematizesthe with this world.  If you look carefully at this Greek word, you will see the English word “schematic” (sort of in the middle).  The word means, “to be fashioned together with”.  That’s it!  Don’t be cut from the same cloth.  Don’t follow the same plan.  Don’t do what everyone else is doing.  Don’t come from the same mold.

We think that this is all about morality, but it’s not.  There are a lot more patterns in this world than just moral rules.  How about the servant pattern?  Are you laying down your life for the benefit of others or have you adopted the “I need to take care of myself” pattern?  How about the possessions pattern?  Have you given all you have to God or are you just sharing some of it with Him?  What about the temporal pattern?  Do you partition your time so that God gets His “fair share” or are you asking Him to pour you out like wine and break you like bread every moment of the day?  How much of your life is still consumed with success, with knowledge, with prominence, with recognition?  Are those the characteristics of a slave?

Patterns are subtle ways that the world captivates our thinking and replaces God with ego.  They are far less obvious than debates about abortion or gay life styles.  And the less obvious ones are far more deadly.

Today’s Hard-To-Do Challenge:  One time today I will ask God to reveal a deep pattern that needs His crucifying change.