"CHRISTIAN" CONFORMISTS
Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind. Rom. 12:2, R.S.V.
Paul's admonition about not being conformed to this world is excellent sermon material. More preachers than I can recall have shaped their church service homilies around that warning against the evil enticements of this world.
More recently, however, I have sensed that Paul is concerned with something deeper than a contrast between the values of the world and the values of the kingdom of Christ. Something even more insidious rises to the surface as he contrasts those two words conformed and transformed, for here he is dealing not just with the values one holds but with how he comes to hold them.
A person who is conformed is one who has no inner strength of conviction or purpose but who wishes above all to be accepted by other people. Rather than risk their rejection, he simply takes on their values or behaviors. He conforms to the values of the group that promises the most uncritical acceptance.
But this is not God's method for getting people to become Christians. It completely bypasses the deeper processes of the heart--the transformation of the most fundamental values and attitudes through one's union with Christ Jesus. It misses the fact that a true Christian is one who has been inwardly made secure through fellowship with his divine Friend. The conformist, by contrast, is the picture of insecurity.
We must honestly admit that all of us are subject to the tendency to be conformed Christians. Our lingering insecurities, our grasping desire to belong, our fears of rejection, set us up to embrace the "acceptable" behaviors and attitudes of our church-related friends. If we learn the games of "churchmanship" with adequate skill, we can appease ourselves that real Christian growth has happened.
As much as He values right behavior, our Father does not wish us to embrace it through fear of His rejection. For this reason, His first message to us assures us of His unconditional love and acceptance. He wants to set us free from the need to conform so that we can embrace the values of His kingdom for entirely proper reasons.
Only those who are transformed Christians "will be able to discern the will of God, and to know what is good, acceptable, and perfect" (Rom. 12:2, N.E.B.). Our Father is one who desires that highly intelligent, inwardly free, peacefully harmonious approach to obedience!
Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind. Rom. 12:2, R.S.V.
Paul's admonition about not being conformed to this world is excellent sermon material. More preachers than I can recall have shaped their church service homilies around that warning against the evil enticements of this world.
More recently, however, I have sensed that Paul is concerned with something deeper than a contrast between the values of the world and the values of the kingdom of Christ. Something even more insidious rises to the surface as he contrasts those two words conformed and transformed, for here he is dealing not just with the values one holds but with how he comes to hold them.
A person who is conformed is one who has no inner strength of conviction or purpose but who wishes above all to be accepted by other people. Rather than risk their rejection, he simply takes on their values or behaviors. He conforms to the values of the group that promises the most uncritical acceptance.
But this is not God's method for getting people to become Christians. It completely bypasses the deeper processes of the heart--the transformation of the most fundamental values and attitudes through one's union with Christ Jesus. It misses the fact that a true Christian is one who has been inwardly made secure through fellowship with his divine Friend. The conformist, by contrast, is the picture of insecurity.
We must honestly admit that all of us are subject to the tendency to be conformed Christians. Our lingering insecurities, our grasping desire to belong, our fears of rejection, set us up to embrace the "acceptable" behaviors and attitudes of our church-related friends. If we learn the games of "churchmanship" with adequate skill, we can appease ourselves that real Christian growth has happened.
As much as He values right behavior, our Father does not wish us to embrace it through fear of His rejection. For this reason, His first message to us assures us of His unconditional love and acceptance. He wants to set us free from the need to conform so that we can embrace the values of His kingdom for entirely proper reasons.
Only those who are transformed Christians "will be able to discern the will of God, and to know what is good, acceptable, and perfect" (Rom. 12:2, N.E.B.). Our Father is one who desires that highly intelligent, inwardly free, peacefully harmonious approach to obedience!
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