CONFORM V. TRANSFORM // SEPTEMBER 12, 2023
The king assigned them a daily amount of food and wine from the king’s table. They were to be trained for three years, and after that they were to enter the king’s service.
Daniel 1:5
They were captured, forced to surrender, exiled and displaced. Thrown into a different culture where everything around them was different: their jobs, their homes, their food and their language. Different can be extremely difficult.
We have decisions -- even in difficult times. For years, students are indoctrinated in universities, not being presented with both sides. What will we do now? We can decide to avoid it all, and move to the middle of nowhere. We can embrace it all for fear of being called a hater or phobic, accept it, love and don't have an opinion or backbone. But there's a third option: we can engage culture. To impact culture, we need to understand it. The world is trying to make us culture carriers, conforming to its standards and following its practices.
Will you conform to culture or transform it? Paul said not to conform to the world's patterns but to be transformed by the renewing of your mind (Romans 12:2). What's one thing you can commit to doing to renew your mind? If you're already in a daily habit of reading the bible, consider adding a book or podcast that would honor God's voice in your life. Remember, what's in you can change the world around you, if you're walking and operating in the power of God.