How Do You Conform?
Max-Peter, the intern for our sales and marketing department is from the Netherlands. When he arrived last summer he would come to work wearing his coat and tie looking very dapper. In some parts of the country that would be considered the normal attire in an office, but we live and work in a ski resort. His parents are both professionals and taught him to look and act the part of being successful.
Max-Peter’s attire has transformed over the months he has been here. The ties were gone almost immediately after his arrival; the jackets were worn less frequently and eventually turned into sweaters and ski jackets. His trips to the Silverthorne Outlet Mall produced new clothes bearing the emblems of American designers such as Ralph Lauren. Upon returning from a recent road trip across the western United States Max-Peter was sporting cowboy boots and red Converse Sneakers. A far cry from what he had worn just 8 months ago.
Max-Peter has conformed to life in this country, trading the formal for the casual. There is nothing wrong with his dressing like everyone else around him, but it has shown me how easy it is to conform. One change here, another adjustment there and soon you are transformed in your ways.
The nation of Israel conformed to the habits of the nations surrounding them. They married people who did not know the one true living God and it led them to worship idols and to be carried off into captivity. It didn’t happen overnight. It was a gradual process of one change at a time. It happens that way for us too.
The only thing God tells us to conform to is the image of His Son, Jesus. Each day we should be making progress to look more and more like Him, not the world around us. Sadly, I think the opposite is true; we accept things today that would have never been heard of only several years ago. Becoming more like Him starts in our minds and in our hearts. What we fill our minds with will eventually make a difference in the way we think and act.
What will you do today to look more like Jesus?
Romans 12:2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
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