ConFORMation

Paul to the Romans (and us!): "do not be conformed  to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God."

The world, unfortunately, is not always straightforward. It has a way of injecting it self in ways that are subtle and nuanced. That has long been the Church's problem. She is filled with the Holy Spirit and is a new creation in Christ, but she is also created from humans who have plenty of the old creation (i.e., the world) in them. One of the recurring themes of my writing is the painful reality of just how much world still remains in the new creation. Christian Triumphalism does not ring true in my ears. Perhaps I have seen too much of the inner workings of the Church. Maybe I have observed too many Christians in their daily lives. (Maybe I am just negative) Anyhow, Paul obviously thought being conformed to the world was not only a possibility, but enough of a temptation that he needed to exhort the church to avoid it.

How do we conform to the world? Perhaps the best source of that information is to visit with non-believers. Let them speak about their goals and desires. Invite them to paint a vision of how the world should be. These folks are your primary resource for understanding ''the world." Maybe we need to take a few weeks off from evangelizing and spend that time doing research.

I think we might be surprised by how much our evangelism resembles marketing. How much our value system reflects socio-economic status. Many times Christian worship looks like popular entertainment (or traditional worship looks like high brow entertainment, or country and western entertainment). Many times Christian fellowship looks like a meeting of a Republican PAC, unless, of course, it resembles a Democratic PAC.
Many times.... and there are a myriad of other examples.

How does one choose a church? What is the criteria? How different is it from choosing where to live or work? Is it motivated by what I want or what am I called to do? I fear that my life is much more conformed to the world than I am aware. I am not sure that my unbelieving neighbors in this community would find my family life terribly different from their own. The struggle is finding a way to not conform to the world which conforms to Jesus. Too often we just opt to conform to another segment of the world and we do it in a worldly way. In a couple of weeks it will be Lent. A season for repentance. Also a season for self examination. Maybe a good idea to do investigate how much con-forming I have done.