Romans 12:1-2
So here’s what I want you to do, God
helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating,
going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an
offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do
for him. 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.
Scripture
quotations from The Message. © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002
by Eugene Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress, Colorado Springs,
CO. All rights reserved.
A few days ago, I flipped on
the television while preparing our lunch, and a daytime soap opera was
just ending. I wasn’t paying close attention, but I caught enough of a
glimpse of the program that I actually checked the channel to make sure I
wasn’t actually on a “cable” channel. I admit, a few decades ago I
watched soap operas every day…but it’s been awhile…and things have
obviously changed! I could not believe what I was seeing in this
“bedroom scene” on a local television station during the early
afternoon!
Along the same lines, I was discussing suitable
television channels for children with the nursery workers at church this
morning, and they pointed out quite a few “cartoon channels” that are
now airing all sorts of programs that are not suitable for little ones.
Certain four-letter words that would NEVER have been uttered in public
even a few years ago are now commonplace on television and movie
screens…across social media…and in the general public.
I say all
of this to illustrate that many of us have indeed become so
well-adjusted to our culture that we fit into it without even thinking.
And the key words here are “fit into it.” Nobody wants to be
considered different. Certainly none of us want others to think of us
as pious. But you don’t have to be condescending or condemning toward
others in order to take a stand for God. You don’t have to make a show
of “going against the grain”, so to speak, in order to please God and
live for Him.
If we focus on living for God…listening for His
voice and acting as He directs, we won’t have to worry about any of
this…it won’t even be on our radar. People who pepper their language
with obscenities and foul words will fade from our “circles”. We’ll
turn the TV off – or change the channel – more often. We will
thoughtfully choose everything from our words to our company to our
clothing and extracurricular activities. And the world will
notice…maybe not that we don’t participate in the things that others
do…so much as they will see that there is something different about us -
but in a good way.
We must tune into God’s word and will for our
lives. We must be more awake and alert – for God’s presence, and for
the everyday things of our culture that we are absorbing and accepting
without truly giving them consideration. Whatever we must do to be able
to operate more clearly and consciously aware in each moment…let’s do
it! Let’s ask God to show us how to live for Him…to grow in His wisdom
and maturity...to care less about fitting in and more about pleasing
Him. We can do this! Are you ready?
©2015 Debbie Robus
No comments:
Post a Comment