“Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.” Romans 12:1-2
Have you thought about what these two verses are really saying? What exactly does it mean to be “conformed to this world”? Well, it can mean a great many things, but I think it is challenging us to not be “normal.” Put another way, don’t work to be the “average” member of your society.
“Abnormal” sounds rather bad, but “not average” puts a bit of a different spin on it, or at least I think so. Now don’t think I’m criticizing anyone who is “normal or average”. I have had plenty of “planks” in my eye. However, I think it may help if we think about what “average” or put another way what “normal” means in our culture:
The average American family is over $100,000.00 in debt. They have almost $6,000 in credit card debt. The average person with a college degree has $37,338.00 in student loans. The average person has $18,255.00 in personal loan debt, and $22,612.00 in auto debt.
The average car payment is $726.00, and the average loan term is just short of six years.
The median average, the amount with half the population holding more and half the population holding less, savings balance in America, is $1,200.00.
The median income for retired couples is $47,620.00.
Based on the BMI scale, the average American is boarder-line obese.
More than 50% of first marriages end in divorce, and that goes up for second or third marriages.
The average life expectancy for American today is 79.25 years.
The majority of America, 54%, reject the Biblical account of creation.
Now, again, I’m not trying to point out slivers in others eyes, I have had times in my life when I’ve had a lot less that $1,200.00 to my name. I’ve had car payments and credit card debt at various points in my life. In addition, I’ve known many really wonderful couples with a retirement income well below that $47,000 mark. The point isn’t whether or not good Godly people have some or all of these “average” conditions in their lives, the question is whether or not we should be trying to turn away from what is “normal” in this culture in favor of “being transformed through the renewing of our minds”?
I don’t know about you, but my prayer for me and my family is that we would not be “average/normal” as this world defines it. I would hope and pray that God would grant me the grace to reject what this world embraces, and instead enable me to seek His version of what is “good and acceptable and perfect.” I’ve probably got a longer way to go than you do, but I think it will be easier for all of us if we can make the journey together.