Through the Bible - Leviticus 21-23, Mark 2
Good morning,
To be popular in today's society one must (in most cases) conform to the world around them. A person is pressured from the outside and squeezed into the worlds mold. We see an example in politicians who are constantly taking polls and changing their stand on issues depending on the current "tide" in society.
You've probably heard of the "herd mentality", it's going along with the crowd, even if, deep down, you know it may not be the right thing to do. Today, in many issues their are so many different opinions that it's hard to find the herd. I've heard it said when trying to gather people for a meeting that "it's like herding cats", everyone so busy heading off on their own agenda that they don't have time for the group.
For today's verse we'll go to a familiar passage in Romans 12 which tells us, that as Christians, we are not to be conformed, pressured from the outside but be transformed, changed, by God's power and influence, from the inside.
Rom 12:2 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. NKJV
or from The Message
or from The Message
Rom 12:2
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.
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.
In today's society we should desire to be somebody. Somebody whose word can be trusted, who will stand by their convictions. As a Christian this happens as we are transformed form the inside out, by the renewing of our minds, beyond the structures and opinions of this present world.
As The Message puts it, don't be dragged down to society's level of immaturity, but allow God to bring out the best in you, and place a well formed maturity in you, from the inside out.
In my heart and my soul
Lord I give You control
Consume me from the inside out
Lord let justice and praise
Become my embrace
To love you from the inside out
Lord I give You control
Consume me from the inside out
Lord let justice and praise
Become my embrace
To love you from the inside out
May these words from Hillsong United's "From the Inside Out" be the desire of our hearts. To give up our own agenda. To be transformed to His likeness from the inside out.
Mike
mikevw@bellsouth.net
mikesvotd.blogspot.com
mikesvotd.blogspot.com
Rom 12:1-5
12 And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. 2 Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.
3 Because of the privilege and authority God has given me, I give each of you this warning: Don't think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us. 4 Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, 5 so it is with Christ's body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other.
Holy Bible, New Living Translation
Holy Bible, New Living Translation
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