According to Paul, the big problem for the human being is simple. We make a practice of suppressing the truth about God (Rom 1:18-19). Jeremiah said, "The heart is deceitful and desperately wicked." (Jer 17:9). Same thing. Now, if we suppress the ultimate Truth, what would you expect would be the outcome? Obviously, the more we operate on lies, the more insane we become. In Paul's words, first "they became futile in their thinking and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools." (Rom 1:21-22) As a consequence of not honoring God (Rom 1:21). From there, it descends farther and farther (Rom 1:21-32), and not in a good way. It is this initial problem -- suppressing the truth, especially the truth about God -- that brings Paul around later to "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." (Rom 12:2). Don't be conformed. Don't take on that shape. Don't look like that. Instead, be transformed. Be changed. The Greek is "metamorphosis," a change of nature rather than mere appearance. How? By going to work on the original problem -- suppression of truth. Be transformed by the renewal of your mind. Note that this renewal of the mind is in stark contrast to "conformed to this world." So if your "renewal of the mind" looks just like the world, you're doing it wrong.
So, what do we do? We -- we Christians -- set out to renew our minds, right? We aim to be cleansed by the washing of the water with the Word (Eph 5:26). We have in our possession the means "for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work." (2 Tim 3:16-17). Sign us up! Or, at least, that's what you'd think. But is it reality?
If we told ourselves the truth, it's not. Worse, for too many of us, we don't even recognize the truth. We keave God's Word on the shelf or, if we're really spiritual, we give it a cursory glance or even a brief read. Oh, no, not to renew our minds. Not to be transformed. Not to change our thinking. No, we're pretty sure we're alright in that category. Look, if we want, we can cruise the internet and find no end of Bible resources and look at this verse and that idea and -- oh! what do you figure that story in the margin is all about? Let's look. So, apparently completely unaware that we live in a society hostile to God (Rom 8:7) and a world with its own god (2 Cor 4:4) intent on blinding us, we cheerily take up the world's means and ways and happily tell God, "Lord, Lord, did we not do mighty works in Your name?" and continue on down the path to conformity rather than transformation.
Brothers and sisters, this may news to you. This world is not your friend. There, I said it. The goal is not your freedom to pursue Christ. The aim is conformity to the world. We live in a world where TL/DR ("too long/didn't read") means something because do you know how long the Bible is? We live in a world moderated and informed by flashing screens and commercial brakes (I didn't misspell what I intended to say) so that you really can't be expected to think too long or too clearly about anything of real consequence. And what they do let you see is really all about you, isn't it? Better living. Better comfort. Better pleasure. "So when the woman saw what was on TV, that it was good to consumed, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that it was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate." (Gen 3:6). I don't know ... this sounds really familiar.
Brothers and sisters, we have a problem. We have an innate problem with lying about God. We have a built in difficulty with the truth. This breeds nothing less than insanity. It doesn't take a super genius to look around and see it everywhere. The answer is not more of the same. The solution is not conformity. The direction to take is transformation -- transforming the mind with God's Word by means of the Spirit. Stealing a bit of a line from a song from my youth, "Jesus rose from the grave and you ... you can't even get off the couch." "If your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out," Jesus said (Matt 5:29). Maybe that eye is one (or more) of the screens we surround ourselves with. Do we find it as offensive to remove those eyes as we would to remove our own? I'd suggest that points at a deeper problem.
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