Part 2- We Can Not Conform to This World

Two of my favorite verses in the Bible are Romans 12:1-2. 

1. “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 
2. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”

In my last post, I had planned to break down Romans 12:1-2, but the depth that I found in verse one alone prompted me to turn last week’s post into two parts, possibly three. I would like to pick up where I left off and dive into Romans 12:2.
After telling us in verse one that we, as Christians, are to present our bodies as living sacrifices that are holy and pleasing to God, verse two expounds on this and tells us how to accomplish this. Where do we start? After we are baptized into Christ, we have to pull away from worldliness, as it says in verse two, “do not be conformed to this world”. 1 John 2:15-16 ties in with this idea very well, “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world–the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life–is not of the Father but is of the world.” Obviously, if you love the world, you will most likely conform to the world. This statement to not conform to the world may seem plain and simple on the surface, but it is difficult to do and something we all have to continuously guard against. It takes spiritual maturity and training of the brain to do this and everyone’s maturity timeline is different depending on their individual circumstances and life experiences. Just as we don’t all physically mature at the same rate, we don’t all spiritually mature at the same rate. There isn’t a magic number or age when we just all of the sudden become spiritually mature. Some of us, like myself, are late bloomers. But let’s not ever forget that we are to never stop growing and maturing spiritually for as long as we live. And obviously, if we are faithful in worship and Bible study attendance, in daily Bible study, and in prayer, we will get closer to spiritual maturity than someone who is not doing these things faithfully. Being in God’s word on a daily basis is going to help us mature and then, in turn, help us to conform to God’s purpose for our lives instead of what the world thinks our purpose should be, which is living for the moment and living for self. But wherever we are in our spiritual journey, let’s always remember this, that God loves us and wants to perform a good work in us and complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. (Philippians 1:6) 

Let’s compare our dedication to God’s word with the dedication that the sports of basketball and tennis require. These are my two absolute favorite sports. Let’s start with basketball. I grew up playing basketball. I practiced every day. Because of this, I matured as a player. I got better every year that I played. It took dedication and training on my part to become a solid, intelligent player. It was the sport of my youth and I still love it up to this day. I also coached basketball for many years and I took the time to study the game more in depth so that I could teach the kids on my team (and my own two children) the fundamentals of the sport and help them grow as players. I bought books to read about coaching and researched offensive and defensive sets to see what would work best for my teams. I sought out new drills to keep my practices fresh and new for the kids. I put a lot of time into coaching and I wouldn’t take back a minute of it. It was so much fun watching the kids grow and develop and improve. It took dedication and training on my part, as a coach, to help my team develop and succeed. Tennis is my new sport that I play in my “older” age. I absolutely love it. I played a little in my younger days, but I didn’t really have any dedication to the sport or training in it back then. My best friend and I try to play as much as our busy lives will let us, usually a couple of times a week. I also watch videos to learn more about how to be a better tennis player. It’s good exercise and it makes me feel great to be involved in a sport again as a player, and I have improved a great deal since I started playing a few months ago. I have dedicated myself to training and improving in the sport. So, if dedication and training help us mature in things such as sports, then think about what dedication and training in God’s word will do for our spiritual maturity. Let that sink in, because I sure am!! I am stepping on my own toes here!! We are told so many times in the Bible to meditate on God’s word. Joshua 1:8 says “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.” Meditation means to think deeply or carefully about something. The Psalmist says it this way in chapter 119, verses 15 and 16, “I will meditate on Your precepts, and contemplate (think profoundly and at length) Your ways. I will delight myself in Your statutes; I will not forget Your word.” How do we not forget God’s word? Study and meditate!! Studying (2 Tim. 2:15) is a commandment for a reason. God knows that being in His word and applying His word to our lives will help keep us out of the world and out of trouble!! 
Something else that helps us to “not be conformed to this world” is to surround ourselves with people who will help us in our spiritual walk. Proverbs 13:20 says, “He who walks with wise men will be wise, but the companion of fools will be destroyed.” We have to watch who we are spending our time with. 1 Corinthians 15:33 reminds us, “Do not be deceived: Evil company corrupts good habits.” We want to have people in our lives who want to help us get to heaven and who encourage us in our talents for the Lord. We don’t want to spend our time with people who feed on our weaknesses. They only want to be around us when we are at our rock bottom weakest and they don’t want us to try and better ourselves spiritually. So let’s all be careful and on guard. Satan can get to us through people who we think are our friends. Let’s remember what Proverbs 12:26 tells us, “The righteous should choose his friends carefully, for the way of the wicked leads them astray.” Whether they are members of the Lord’s church or not, the friends we choose to spend time with should be a positive influence in our lives. I have wonderful friends that are members of the Lord’s church and wonderful friends that are not. And they are all such a blessing to my life and I hope that I am a blessing to them as well. Actually, I have two sisters in Christ who encouraged me to do something more with my writing. I have always loved to write and journal, but never had the confidence to put my writing out there for everyone to read. I wrote things for my husband and children to encourage them, but no one else. I let these two precious sisters in Christ read some things I had written and now I am writing for anyone who wants to read it. Through these two sisters in Christ and the encouraging feedback they gave me, I have grown spiritually through this blog and my hope is that, with God’s increase, others will be encouraged by it. Honestly, it’s the beauty of God’s word that is behind it all. It is all because of Him!! I wouldn’t have anything to write about if I wasn’t writing about God’s word!! The more that I am in it, the more beauty I find!! Psalms 119:105 says that, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” That is so comforting to me. I picture the paths in my brain just lighting up when I am reading and studying God’s word. To sum this part of the verse up, if we discipline ourselves to be in God’s word daily and be in prayer daily, and we surround ourselves with good people who are positive influences, we will be less likely to conform to the world. We won’t want to!! 

 So…….if I am a Christian, I am not going to conform to the world’s standards of how to be saved, how to live, how to worship, how to be a good wife, how to raise my kids, and the list goes on and on. God’s word and God’s word only will be my standard.

Again, I have found so much inspiration in these verses. I decided to break the post I had written about Romans 12:2 into two posts because it was extra long. Thanks to everyone for reading my blog! I hope everyone has a blessed coming week!! 

Romans 12:2 Part 3 –

Transforming and Renewing Our Minds and Lives coming next week!!

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