“Who do you think you’re foolin’?” said the woman in the checkout line, loud enough for all to hear. The man next to her, shook his head then speaking in a voice louder than hers said, “I ain’t tryin’ to fool no one! You the one who is acting the fool!” As we stood in line we were a captive audience to what is becoming more the norm then the exception in our world today, folks living like they are stars of their own reality show. The problem is that there is no way to turn them off or at least turn down the volume!
Unless you have your head in the sand or are living on an island by yourself, you can expect to be bombarded daily with: rudeness, foul language, hostility, drama, and that is just at the grocery store. You would think we should all be horrified but quite the opposite is true. We crave it. Our society that moves at a faster pace each day, lives for the blurb on social media of the latest of a flash mob doing something that should embarrass us just to watch, let alone be part of. But it doesn’t embarrass, it is deemed ‘cool’.
If it was just social media that would be bad enough. But it is in our homes, work places and scarier than that in the people we have chosen as our role models and leaders. We applaud divisive language that is spewed out like poison and find people with morals to be boring, unopinionated or uninformed. The more outrageous rhetoric is judged to be smart and well-informed.
My question is, “can we find a way to live in this world but not be partakers or purveyors of the venom and hatred around us?” Maybe the apostle Paul can give some advice. In the book of Romans, he says this, “Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” (Romans 12:2) Allowing ourselves to be transformed can lead us to dwell on what is good, acceptable, and perfect. A far cry from what this world offers. But how can that transformation take place?
I think it all comes down to how we occupy both our minds and hearts. How much time do we spend in the Word of God. If we wake up and speed through a devotional each morning and race through a prayer or two then are off to spend the rest of our day absorbing this world and its media. Our chances of being transformed are impossible. Author Ellen White wrote this, “Only those who have been diligent students of the Scriptures and who have received the love of truth will be shielded from the powerful delusion that takes the world captive. By the Bible testimony these will detect the deceiver in his disguise. To all the testing time will come. By the sifting of temptation, the genuine Christian will be revealed.” (The Great Controversy pg. 625) Without diligent not cursory study of the Bible we cannot hope to live in this world and not find ourselves always under its influence and sway.
When we look to see Jesus, we see that he was able to be in this world and not be of it. But He warned us that when we follow Him it wouldn’t be easy, in fact there is every chance we will be hated, “I have given them your word and the world has hated them because they are not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth, your word is truth. (John 17:15-17) But if we are willing to know the truth of His Word we can find something better than this world can offer, life eternal with Him.
So today and every day we have a choice to make, Paul said it was conformity or transformation. To me it is life and it is death. Every time I choose to spend my time in God’s Word I know I am choosing life and turning away from the hatred and vileness that is our day-to-day world. I am now in a time of prayer, 10 days of prayer to be exact. It is my deepest prayer that I will come out of this time strong enough to live in this world but not be of it. I pray that for all of you also. Peace and joy as the Sabbath approaches.
Blessings John
1/12/18
