Conformed or Transformed -pt.4

[A series of thoughts on Romans 12:1-2]

"Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world,

but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”

Romans 12:2

In a speech to the General Assembly of the United Nations on September 25, 1961 President John F. Kennedy said this, “Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth.” I don’t know all of the issues or threats he was facing that motivated him to say these words but I doubt that he had in mind Romans 12:2, “Do not CONFORM any longer to the pattern of this world…” Yet there is a poignant truth to Kennedy’s words when it comes to those things that threaten to restrict and restrain us from becoming all that God wants us to be.

When we conform to something we give to it the freedom to shape us according to its will and value system. In essence we are formed “with” it (con = with; con-form is to be formed with something). It is a choice we make. Paul says, “Do not conform any longer”. The implication is that we should stop doing this. It’s up to us. We have a choice. There is nothing being forced upon us.

Now, that is not to say that there are not powers around us that are trying to draw us in to their particular view of life. There are indeed such forces all around us. Political views, social perspectives, moral values. We are daily inundated with messages that are trying to shape us and form us to be something that we were not created to be. It is the value system of this world. Paul calls it the “pattern” of this world. Pattern implies design and shape and purpose. The pattern of this world calls to us to become a part of it. To weave ourselves into its design in such a way that it’s hard to tell where “me” ends and the “pattern of this world” begins.

I love how J.B. Phillips translates this verse, “Don’t let the world squeeze you into its mold.” How often do we do this? How often do we allow our own convictions to be shaped more by fluctuating social values than by the fixed truth of God’s Word? Conformity to the pattern of this world is indeed the “jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth.” We cannot be free while being bound to the way of thinking this world calls us to. We cannot grow and become all that God has created us to be if we have planted ourselves in the soil of this worlds values.

So what is the alternative to being conformed to the pattern of this world? Eugene Peterson tells us clearly in his translation of this verse in The Message. “Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it WITHOUT EVEN THINKING.” We cannot keep from being conformed to the pattern of this world if we are not thinking clearly, if our minds are not focused on something beyond this world. We must be “transformed by the renewing of our minds”.

There is a natural pull of our minds into the pattern of this world. We must “renew” our minds, train our minds, to think differently. We cannot do this if we continue to look to the world and it’s prophets to tell us how to think. We must raise our minds above all of this to something else. The way of renewed thinking lies in where our minds are focused. “Set your minds on things above, NOT on earthly things.” (Colossians 3:2)

If we take our cues from this world then we will inevitably be conformed to it. But if our minds are focused intently on God and His Word then a transformation takes place in us and we begin to be shaped by the eternal values of God’s truth rather than by the ever-changing values of this world.

Conformed or transformed? Shaped by this world or shaped by God’s Word? Both are choices we make. They each lead in opposite directions: One toward bondage and stagnation, the other toward freedom and growth. Doesn’t sound like much of a choice to me.