Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. (Romans 12:1–2 NIV)
What does it mean to be a transformer? What does it mean to be transformed? God calls us and invites us to be both, and yet the words "transformed" and "transformation" have become words without meaning. That needn't be the case. I think the key to reclaiming what it means for us to be transformed is found in what Paul says immediately prior to talking about transformation. He admonishes: "Do not be conformed to the patterns of this world"; the systems, ethos, ethics, goals and ideals of the world. Rather, as followers of Jesus we are to live our faith in the world, but to have our lives flow from the patterns of the Kingdom of God.
Paul's charge to not be conformed to the patterns of the world is not a call to separatism, but to a countercultural lifestyle and way of thinking. It is a call to live as a culture within a culture:
- a culture of inclusion within a culture of exclusion
- a culture of reconciliation within a culture of revenge
- a culture of community within a culture of individualism
- a culture of giving within a culture of accumulation.
The reality, however, is that more often than not the people whom God has called to be a countercultural community are neither countercultural, nor community. In the process, we miss out on the way of life that is talked about in Scripture: contentment, peace, joy, hope -- not dependent upon our circumstances, but dependent upon God, and our relationship to him. We miss out, and the world misses out as people are deprived from seeing the beauty of Jesus in his peculiar people, and instead only see their neighbors and co-workers who happen to go to church.
Conformity and transformation:
- what are some of the specific ways that you see yourself conformed to the patterns of the Kingdom of this world?
- what would it look like to be transformed into the patters of the Kingdom of God?
Transformation is a shifting of alliances that does not just happen by itself. Transformation takes a recognition of how badly we all are conformed and an entering into a process of training and renewing of our minds that results in a knowledge of God's will for us -- good, perfect and pleasing -- and a path to step forward into it.
What are your thoughts? Share the with me and with others.
Peace, hope and love
Doug
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in my work there are adherence expectations. I am required to micro manage my day around ever changing breaks,scheduled casework meeting schedules, all the while taking escalated phone calls with a"smile" in my voice.
ReplyDeleteI have never had a job that I'm expected to stop working,sometimes with the knowledge that to stop means I'll have to start over. To submit to this seems senseless and counter productive.I am struggling to adhere. I am stressed. It is documented that I am not measuring up. What do I need to learn in this season of my life? How do I live counterculturally in this Corporate environment? Is it submission that is at the core of this? Perhaps I need to be more flexible,pliable.Could it be that it's not how much I contribute is the goal but how I contribute? Why does that seem like"dumbing down" to me?
Let me take another look at that submission thing.