2. Renouncing Conformity
Scriptures:
- Romans 12:2
Observations:
Okay, so passage breakdown:
- Do not conform to the world
- Be transformed
- How, by the renewing of your mind
- Why, that you may discern God's will by testing
- That is, what is good, acceptable, and perfect
Do not conform to the world. Sounds pretty straightforward. Any time in which my interactions lead me to an intersection of the world's way and God's way, I should not choose the world's way.
How can I do that? By choosing the other way, which is partly choosing God's way and partly allowing myself to be changed by God, having my mind reset, so to speak, according to God's will, because, it is only through God working in us that we could or would even have the thought to follow God, let alone be able to choose that.
Why do I say that?
Well, earlier in Romans, Paul specifically states that we are no longer slaves to sin. We are no longer obligated to give in to sin, but are now empowered both to see what is right and to do what is right.
Incidentally, Paul calls us, in that same passage, slaves to righteousness. In entertaining sin, we entertain treason. In committing sin, we deal treacherously with our master. Sin does not come from allegiance with God. As Paul writes in Galatians, we should be seeing the fruit of the spirit, Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self-Control, coming from those who claim allegiance with God. We should, as James writes, be displaying our faith by our works, because a faith that does not produce outward manifestation is dead.
So, then, do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. That's all well and good, but why?
So that we may discern God's will, that which is good, acceptable, and perfect.
By tuning our minds to God, we are able to test the different thoughts and ideas that come to and from us. We can check and see if they are of God and, for those who are new and may be a little iffy on what something that is of God looks like, it is good, that is, it works for the betterment of others and for the self; it is acceptable, that is, it is morally and sometimes socially permissible (Not everything socially permissible is acceptable by God's standard); and it is perfect, that is, it has nothing of sin or wrongdoing in it.
So, to make an example, which happens to hit fairly close to home, let's use looking at a woman lustfully - and I'm not even talking imagining her naked, we'll keep it to simply "appreciating" what she looks like.
- Is it good? No
- It contributes to the devaluing and objectifying (i.e. dehumanising) of women.
- It instills a false sense of permission, control, and entitlement in the mindset of the man in question, while also encouraging him to seek his pleasure from external engagements and shallow sources instead of internally, within himself, between himself and God, and between himself and his spouse.
- Is it acceptable? No
- The only ones who would even hesitate to say no, or would say so whingingly are the ones who have grown a sense of entitlement to do so, finding ways to justify it and keep it apparently acceptable.
- Is it perfect? No
- Aside from the face that it debases women, Jesus describes it as a form of adultery.
- Additionally, it strays from the intention of intimacy and sexuality established by God and, if we hold the posit that God is by nature perfect, then anything that strays from the way given by God must be imperfect.
How do we break this mindset? Well, first, as we've seen previously, we must be aware of it and bring it to confession. Secondly, as we're seeing today, we must renounce the world's standards and allow God to reconfigure our hearts and minds according to his way, that we might be able to discern his direction and follow it.
~ ~ ~
The Love Dare
Day 3: Love is not selfish
Oy vey, do I have a problem with selfishness. I do what I want, when I want. I do what others want when it's convenient for me. Even doing good things to get a favourable result counts as selfish. Dang! I know I'm guilty of trying to manipulate people and gain leverage to get what I want and have had minor sulk sessions when I don't get my way.
"Love is never satisfied except in the welfare of others... Choosing to love your mate will cause you to say 'no' to what you want so you can say 'yes' to what they need."
My first resistance is to ask, "But what about what I want?" That's a pretty selfish question. This excerpt isn't saying I can't experience happiness, but that I should put my wife's happiness and well-being above my own.
"The truth is, when you relinquish your right for the sake of your mate, you get a chance to lose yourself to the greater purpose of marriage."This is one of those things where my head sees the sense and logic, of giving myself over to something greater than myself, but my selfish heart, the very same one that got me into this huge sin mess, is screaming, "No! I want what I want and I'm gonna get it!"
Yeah, that's definitely something to take to God in prayer.
No comments:
Post a Comment