Conformity

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. (Romans 12:2 NIV)

"Do not conform to the pattern of this world."  Good advice.  Most of us understand this is good advice.  But what IS the pattern of this world?  It would be everything "the church" is against, right?
Not necessarily.  It is the sad truth that many, if not most, of our churches have conformed to the pattern of this world in one way or another.

Some churches are too focused on how much money they can bring in.  Some churches are embroiled in national, state and local politics, telling parishioners how they must vote if they are truly Christian.  Some churches are all about keeping their own circle of members happy and comfortable.  Some even encourage hate of other groups.  These are obvious ways some churches "conform to the pattern of this world."  But there are many not-so-obvious ways as well.  And we are so sure our own church is right that we are conformed right along with it without even realizing it.

We cannot rely solely on what we hear and see inside our churches in order to be transformed by the renewing of our minds.  It is a good place to start, and I am not suggesting we should be suspicious of or reject out of hand everything that comes from the pulpit or our Sunday school class or in our small groups.  But we must remember that people, as well as insitutions, are fallible.  We should not embrace ideas simply because everyone else in our church does.  We need to "test and approve what God's will is."

Does it line up with scripture?  This is tricky, because if we are creative enough, we can find plenty of verses to back up whatever we want to.  Be sure to not just pick and choose verses.  Make sure you are applying your situation in the correct context. Is what you are reading from the Levitical laws that were put in place to keep an ancient people safe, healthy and cohesive?  It might not apply today.  Was Paul speaking to a certain situation in a specific church or was what he said meant for all people in all situation for all time?  Was Jesus speaking literally or figuratively?  This may require some in depth study on our part.

We also need to check the situation for Christlikeness.  What would Jesus do?  If you know the heart of Christ you will feel the rightness or wrongness of it.  Sometimes we need only ask ourselves:  "Does it do kindness, love mercy and help me walk humbly with God?"

Conformity can be tricky.  It's like when we were teenagers.  We wanted to "be different" by being different in the same way all our friends were being different.  That is conformity too!  Don't be different only in the same way your church is different.  Be different in all the ways Jesus was different.  Sometimes he stood alone.  We may have to stand alone amidst our own friends sometimes too.  It's hard.  But it is the only way to transform a world for Christ.

Lord Jesus,
Help us to know you so well that we can immediately see when we are conforming to the world rather than transforming the world to you.  Open our hearts to our ideals that we firmly hold that might actually be wrong.  And give us the courage to change even if we must stand alone.  Amen.

Joys:  Corn maze today with Daniel, Tracy and Cecelia; Caring friends; the mature and solid brotherly relationship between Daniel and Kevin