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Author
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Topic: To whom ye conform to matters!
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oneinchrist
Advanced Member
Member # 6532
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posted
Hi Copper 25,
Your post makes me think of the urgency of need for us to be proclaiming the love/faithfullness of God as well as proclaiming the potential danger of ignoring scriptural warnings........for ex:love of this world, sexual immorality, pride, half-heartedness, etc. The warnings are there by a God who desires to protect us, not to make our lives more difficult.
With love in Christ, Daniel
Posts: 1389 | From: Wind Lake, WI | Registered: May 2007
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Copper25
Advanced Member
Member # 7464
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posted
Romans 12:2) And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
The first question, What does conforming mean?
According to Strong’s
G4964
συσχηματίζω
suschēmatizō
soos-khay-mat-id'-zo
From G4862 and a derivative of G4976; to fashion alike, that is, conform to the same pattern (figuratively): - conform to, fashion self according to.
The word conformed means to follow the same pattern, to be fashioned alike to. Now the question is, are you being fashioned like unto this world’s trends, are you following the patterns of this world, or the pattern of life, a life that is pleasing onto God, that is worthy of the profession of faith that you claim? This is the question that we should be asking ourselves each day. Now the question is how? This world causes sin to be breedful, ignited, making sin regular, and even as to promote it so commonly, and by the grace of God, by the power of the Spirit, we must deny or reject these actions, resist by the grace of God the evil that is in this world. This we MUST do in order to live pleasing unto God. To persevere in the faith, as strangers in the midst of a morally weary land that is estranged of, or alienated from God’s counsel in large scale proportions, by the grace of God through Christ Jesus, prayerfully, we can overcome adversity in all it throws at us.
In this world there is all sorts of lust, all sorts of evil, and things of the such, but truth be told, should we ever conform to these things?
Titus 2 says in verse 11 and 12, “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world”
Now let us look at the specific word “denying”, meaning to refuse, to reject, to shun, diverting from, and any other type of term that means in a nutshell to turn away from.
1 Peter 1:16) Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.
This is what we have in today’s Christianity lost. The sense of separation, or being set apart from the world in our conduct, in the way we conduct ourselves. Now a days, people preach in many cases, you believe in Jesus, just keep on trying to live your life, living in this world, and wait on the Lord, because you are saved and are going to heaven. Now what do you not see here, a call to be holy, in a sense separation from the world. In a world where Satan is called the “god of this world” (2 Corinthians 4:4), do we really just want to keep follow his path, the crooked path, the path that will damn one’s soul to hell sort of path. I know we have heard this a million times, but it cannot be said enough, “be ye separate” (2 Corinthians 6:17).
Who you conform to, is who you love, now what do I mean by this? Think about it. Christ is pure and holy and righteous. This world is defiled, wicked, and evil. If you let the world which is damned in its Godless mind of thinking (and by that I mean without acknowledgement of the true Holy God and His principles) dictate the way you view, the way you talk, the way you think, the way you are directed in life, then who do you love?
1 John 2:15) “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”
Again, who you conform to, is who you love, now what do I mean by this? Think about it, Christ our Lord walked a sinless life, one of perfection. If we are to strive to be more like our elder brother, our Lord, our Savior, we MUST deny and MUST NOT be conformed to the evil which is around us. This, despite popular teaching, is not optional.
1 Thessalonians 5:22) “Abstain from all appearance of evil“
We are commanded and seriously warned to abstain from the sinful presentations of this fallen world that has forsaken its Creator. Can we love the world and yet love Christ at the same time? Can we love Christ and yet love the world? Can we be conforming to the image of Christ and the image of the world at the same time? No, simply no. People think that in their fantasy mind, their own way of thinking, that they can have Christ and His love, and yet still they can have a passion for the worldly lust, the worldly desires. The heart is not of purity, in the sense of loyalty, unless the Lord is one, and only one ruler of it, and frankly, Jesus doesn’t like to share His people with the world. Jealous is God’s name, in the sense where He wants all of you!
Mark 12:30) And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.
You either love the world or Christ, you are ether conforming to the world, or by the grace of God you are conforming to Christ, one or the other, and we know which one leads to destruction
2 Corinthians 6:17) Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.
You are ether separate from the world, or you are separate from Christ. You are ether received of the world or you are received by Christ. World, devil, destruction, or separation, Christ, life. These are the two options, so who do you love, Christ or the world, the seen or Him which is unseen? The temporal act of illusion or prosperity of eternal substance built on the rock, on Christ Jesus? I know I have been quite repetitive but like I said earlier, it cannot be said enough, “be ye separate” (2 Corinthians 6:17). Conform not to that which can be seen, but rather to Him that sits at the right hand of God, who is unseen. Our values as strangers and pilgrims should be aimed toward eternity and grasping a lifestyle that is more suitable to our calling as Christians and followers of Christ and not the manifestation of this fallen world. Simply put, let God be our leader and not let the world dictate us and manipulate us into its dark conformities and trickery. The world blinds the eyes in the abyss of time, which our vapor-like lifespan in these earthly vessels, is such a microscopic segment, a drop of time.
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Isaiah 40:6) The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field
Posts: 262 | From: Rochester, NY | Registered: Nov 2008
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