“DO NOT BE CONFORMED!”

 Romans 12:1-2                       (ESV)

A Living Sacrifice

“[1] I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of GOD, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to GOD, which is your spiritual worship. [2] “DO NOT BE CONFORMED” to this world, but be TRANSFORMED by the renewal of your mind, THAT BY TESTING you may DISCERN what is the will of GOD, what is GOOD and ACCEPTABLE and PERFECT.”

According to the Merrimack-Webster dictionary the word CONFORMED means: to give the same shape, outline, or contour to : bring into harmony or accord.

It has been often said “they just go along to get along”!  Doing what “everyone else” thinks is best might earn you “brownie points” among friends, but is that what GOD’S WORD instructs us to do?  The COMMAND “DO NOT BE CONFORMED” to this world isn’t just a suggestion to live a better life.  No, it is instructing us live a life that SEPARATES us from the world around us, what everyone else is doing!

One way of SEEING that we are TRANSFORMED by the HOLY SPIRIT is when we are being proven by TESTING.  The enemy will never convict us that we aren’t living in accordance to GOD’S WILL, instead he will try to make our paths as comfortable and enjoyable as possible.  Remembering my school days, TESTING gave me a chance to PROVE how much knowledge had stuck with me.  In Genesis 22:12 Scripture records GOD telling Abraham “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear GOD, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from ME.”  GOD already knew the strength of Abraham’s FAITH, but now Abraham knew!

“DO NOT BE CONFORMED” isn’t something that we have to SEEK for HIS GLORY, it is something that we will HAVE to do in service to CHRIST.  Being “set apart” WILL cause pain, even despair!  But when we are CHOSEN by the CREATOR OF THE UNIVERSES to be tools for CHRIST, we have no other option than “DO NOT BE CONFORMED” to “this world”!!!