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 (MSG)
Invited Transformation – The Change Your Mind Series – Part 4
Go to PART 1 | PART 2 | PART 3 | PART 4 | PART 5 | PART 6 | PART 7
One of the reasons I’m still a Christian today, and call myself one, is because I believe that a life of faith is powerfully transformative. It’s the kind of life that says. “the way things are in the world can change and be redeemed.” A little (a whole lot) like resurrection.
But I haven’t “left” one way of conforming behind only to become a part of another way of conforming.
Jesus challenged the status quo. He was always moving toward the edges, surprising people, shocking others, pushing boundaries, making people think, asking questions and never really answering any. (Have you noticed that?) He told parables to break open stigma’s, dogma’s and concreted set-in ways.
Parables are a gateway to change. Mostly, the interpretations of his parables that I hear seek to control their meaning. We want to put them in cute little boxes where they mean what they mean, and we can pull them out when we need to make a certain point. But that isn’t the function of a parable. They have no set interpretation. They were not told by Rabbi’s before and after Jesus to deliver a particular point. They have always been used as a way of disrupting and unearthing hidden issues, hurts, and motivations. They are designed to get under your skin and make you think, question and seek. And that is the function of faith.
God is not seeking to conform you. He doesn’t want you to go from a “worldly lemming” to a Christian one. Conforming is about controlling what you do. Transformation is about becoming who you are truly meant to be.
Years ago, when I was drinking too much, a dear friend didn’t tell me to stop. Instead, she asked me why I was doing it. And that question invited transformation.
When I was depressed that my house wasn’t big or nice enough, my husband didn’t tell me to stop moaning and work harder so that I can make more money so that I can buy more things. He asked me why I thought I needed a big beautiful house in the first place. And that question invited transformation.
When I would instinctually avoid certain people in public, it wasn’t until I asked myself “why?” that I realized I had conformed to some worldly prejudices. And that question invited transformation.
It wasn’t until I began to ask questions about refugees, and equality, and gun control, and drug addiction, and imprisonment that I began to see the real issues and the real humans caught up in these nightmares. The questions ushered me into a place where my mind was open to wisdom, knowledge, and change. Those questions took me from ignorance to empathy, and to action.
In Romans 12:2 “The ways of the world” is not a reference to sex, drugs and rock and roll. Sure, there is behavior that is destructive and wrong, and people would be better off not engaging in it. But ALL behavior comes from a belief deep down in people’s lives that they have conformed to. Transformation doesn’t come by conforming behavior. It comes from asking the question “why?” and inviting transformation.
The ways of the world are more like:
Me first.
Hate.
Isolation.
Greed.
Lust.
Separateness.
Certainty.
Violence.
Indifference.
And more.
Is there conformity in your life that you need to question? Are there areas that need transforming? Ask the questions, and let the Divine bring out the best in you.
Go to Part 5 – Transformations »
Written by Lizzy Milani
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