Do You Fit In?
Quote from Forum Archives on January 14, 2004, 5:47 pmPosted by: Asn <Asn@...>
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. Romans 12:2 The MessageWe were traveling along in my granddaddy's 1965 Chevrolet pickup, fondly nicknamed "The White Elephant," at a cruising speed of 53 miles per hour. I was sitting in the middle and enjoying the passing scenery when my brother began to snicker. "I don't see how you can drive so slow," he commented. Granddaddy's reply was priceless: "If you never eat anything sweeter than an orange, an orange will taste sweet to you." Perspective is everything.
How easy it is to get caught up in the flow of the culture around us. The "sweetness" of this world's system and the ideologies of the culture at large are directly opposed to the Kingdom of God, and the pressure to conform can be overwhelming, albeit extremely subtle. In Luke 9:59-60, Jesus called a man to follow Him. The man instead sought to fulfill the expectations of others first - surely Jesus could wait until he had done what he was "supposed to do" - and he appears to have missed out on the opportunity to be a personally-trained, Spirit-empowered disciple of Jesus! Let's fix our attention on God so that we may obtain His best for us rather than settling for the shallowness of the world around us, no matter how proper or glamorous it may appear.
Heavenly Father, thank You for calling me as Your child. Lord, I ask You to be my steadfast anchor when the subtle winds of the world try to sweep me away. Teach me Your ways, Lord, that I might not sin against You. Please forgive me for settling for what is "good" instead of pursuing Your best. Help me to follow You with an undivided heart. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
Posted by: Asn <Asn@...>
We were traveling along in my granddaddy's 1965 Chevrolet pickup, fondly nicknamed "The White Elephant," at a cruising speed of 53 miles per hour. I was sitting in the middle and enjoying the passing scenery when my brother began to snicker. "I don't see how you can drive so slow," he commented. Granddaddy's reply was priceless: "If you never eat anything sweeter than an orange, an orange will taste sweet to you." Perspective is everything.
How easy it is to get caught up in the flow of the culture around us. The "sweetness" of this world's system and the ideologies of the culture at large are directly opposed to the Kingdom of God, and the pressure to conform can be overwhelming, albeit extremely subtle. In Luke 9:59-60, Jesus called a man to follow Him. The man instead sought to fulfill the expectations of others first - surely Jesus could wait until he had done what he was "supposed to do" - and he appears to have missed out on the opportunity to be a personally-trained, Spirit-empowered disciple of Jesus! Let's fix our attention on God so that we may obtain His best for us rather than settling for the shallowness of the world around us, no matter how proper or glamorous it may appear.
Heavenly Father, thank You for calling me as Your child. Lord, I ask You to be my steadfast anchor when the subtle winds of the world try to sweep me away. Teach me Your ways, Lord, that I might not sin against You. Please forgive me for settling for what is "good" instead of pursuing Your best. Help me to follow You with an undivided heart. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.