“And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” (Romans 12:2)
This is a commandment. If we have believed on the Lord Jesus and have made Jesus Lord, He is commanding us through the Holy Spirit in Paul not to be like the world. Everyone wants to fit in and to be accepted. So, we adopt the words of the world. We don’t want to look different so we dress like the world. We women make up our faces to look fashionable. And we adopt fashionable hairstyles. Most of these things are not sin. But they do display the love in our hearts for the world. It’s a step away from thinking like the world. And it’s just a step away from sin when we begin to speak and act like the world.
But if you belong to Christ, you no longer are of this world. Jesus prayed, “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.” (John 17:16) We don’t belong here. Yes, we live here. We work here. We have to get along in this world. All this is true. Jesus hasn’t called us to make war on the world, He has left us here in this world to shine our light in the darkness. The world is heading to destruction. We are to show that with Jesus we don’t have to live desperately. We are to be so different that the world notices we’re different by our modest dress, holy words and actions of love. Jesus didn’t call us to be accepted. In His prayer He tells the Father that the world hates us. “I have given them Thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.” (John 17:14) Quote a Scripture in the world and you will see the demons rise up against God’s Word. Even those who You thought were brothers or sisters in Christ because thy attend a church will show their true fruit.
The world loves all the goodness and blessings of the Lord, but it hates Jesus, and it will hate us. There will come a time, and the Word speaks of it, when persecution of Christians will be worldwide. It may or may not be in our lifetime. But will we be strong enough to stand for Jesus? Or because we look and sound like the world do we think we can survive? Some brethren around the world are already facing death and torture for Jesus.
Because the United States was founded on Christian precepts, it has been spared many atrocities. But it’s no longer a Christian nation. People all over the world have come bringing their strange gods with them. Yes, we have religious freedom, and I don’t deny them that right. But the fact remains that they have brought their way of thinking and want to make this land like the land that they escaped. Children of Christian parents are adopting these strange gods. Surely, we will suffer like the rest of the nations. We once stood apart protected and blessed. But I don’t know if we still are. God has been kicked out of our schools and out of the public eye in the United States. The drive to even alienate the nation more from God continues. Parents do their children a great injustice by not instilling godly principles and godly values in their children. By their lax attention to the Word of God, they condemn their children and descendants to misery. Yes, I know that they will have to make their own decisions to follow God. Coming to the Lord is personal and individual. But a heart that is molded by the world will reject Christ and His teachings. A child brought up in the Word of God and learning to depend on Him, will fall in love with the Lord and never think of leaving Him for the world.
Romans 12:2 is a commandment. But God just didn’t command us not to be like the world, He gave us a way to keep from becoming part of the world. It’s by reading the Bible. The Word of God is alive. “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” (Hebrews 4:12) God’s Word is not just dead letters, affirming words and good thoughts. It has the power to accomplish what it says. “So shall My word be that goeth forth out of My mouth: it shall not return unto Me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.” (Isaiah 55:11) The Lord tells us that by reading the Word, our minds will be renewed and transformed.
The God that said, “Let there be light,” and created all things with the Word of His mouth, will accomplish that renewed mind and transformation more and more into the image of Christ. (2 Corinthians 3:18) And we will depart more and more away from the world, world thinking, world attitudes and world living.
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