Transformed, not conformed

The base text is Romans 12:2. In the NLT, Paul tells us not to copy the behavior and customs of this world, but to let God transform us by changing the way we think, so that we can come to know God's good, pleasing and perfect will.

This verse has three verbs, and they follow an order: first I do not conform, then I let God transform me, and only then do I experience God's will. It is not possible to experience God's will while remaining a conformed person.

1. Do not conform

We like to skip steps. We want to experience God's presence and power right away. After the multiplication of the loaves, Jesus told the crowd they were looking for him because they had eaten their fill, not because of the signs (John 6:26).

The world lives on trial runs: seven days free, free samples at the supermarket. And we come to God thinking it works the same way: "let's see how long I stay at this church", "I only want part of the package". But God wants to transform you, and to do that he first needs to unmold you: to take you out of the molds built by your upbringing, your culture, society and everything you consume.

1.1 The world works from the outside in

Worldly wisdom cannot reach the deepest part of who you are. So it starts with behavior, and after behaving wrongly for so long, the mind becomes seared. The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers (2 Cor 4:4), and Romans 1 shows people so given over to their ways that God gave them over to their own desires (Rom 1:24).

The world reaches us through the five senses, and that creates needs, because what counts as success in the world is not success in the Kingdom. The psalmist almost went astray when he saw the prosperity of the wicked, until he entered the sanctuary and understood their final destiny (Ps 73). The gospel is not about results, because the result has already been secured in Christ: we are more than conquerors. It is about processes of understanding.

1.2 The enemy's weapon is sophistry

The devil rarely comes with a blatant lie. He uses false arguments, half-truths that look like the truth (2 Cor 10:4-5), as he did with Adam and Eve. Sometimes a productivity tip almost becomes a biblical principle. But the psalmist says that unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain, and that he grants sleep to those he loves (Ps 127:1-2). Lots of people can teach you how to be a decent person; only prayer, the Bible and fasting teach you how to be a believer.

1.3 Good behavior is not the gospel

The devil has no problem with you behaving well, as long as it follows the world's standards. If being a believer is missing, everything is missing.

• Cain and Abel both brought offerings, but Cain's heart wanted to kill his brother (Gen 4).
• The Pharisees were the best-behaved people around, but Jesus called them whitewashed tombs (Matt 23:27).
• Many will say they drove out demons in his name, and he will tell them, "I never knew you" (Matt 7:22-23).

All behavior that does not come from a right spiritual understanding ends in religiosity. We don't rack up air miles with God. Jesus died to take away our guilt. Where sin increased, grace increased all the more (Rom 5:20), but that is not a license to sin: do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh (Gal 5:13).

1.4 Conformity is not contentment

To be conformed is to take on the shape of your circumstances. Contentment is good: godliness with contentment is great gain (1 Tim 6:6). But contentment has to do with what you have, not with who you are. Being content with who you are breeds pride, and pride breeds conformity.

Religiosity likes to give spiritual names to carnal things: calling conformity contentment, and passivity patience.

2. Let God transform the way you think

If the world controls the way we think, we are conformed. If God controls it, we are transformed. God has only one thing for your life: transformation.

2.1 It's not willpower

The gospel is not about your discipline or your willpower. Paul confessed that he did what he did not want to do (Rom 7:19-24). The gospel is about the death of my will: I no longer live, but Christ lives in me (Gal 2:20).

Job was content, but not conformed. He went through one of the greatest transformations in the Bible and ended up saying that before he had only heard about God, but now his eyes had seen him (Job 42:5).

2.2 God doesn't renovate, he transforms

You are not a good house that just needs a new roof and a fresh coat of plaster. God wants to work on the structure, not on appearances. When he transforms who you are, all your behavior changes. He wants to explain to you why you commit the sins you commit, and when you understand, you stop committing them.

Who you will become is not your decision. It is God who decides, and you place your will in his hands.

3. Experience God's will

We have the mind of Christ (1 Cor 2:16). When we are transformed and don't interrupt that cycle, we stop asking others what our purpose is, because we have crucified our own will. Everything God calls us to do, when we are not conformed, is challenging and pulls us out of what we think we have under control.

The gospel offers transformation that produces love for God and for our neighbor. It is not love with preset conditions. John, the apostle of love, once wanted to call down fire from heaven on the Samaritans (Luke 9:54). Without a transformed understanding, we cannot love.

Paul sums it up in 2 Corinthians 3:18: the veil has been removed, and the Lord, who is the Spirit, transforms us little by little into his glorious image. The more you look like Jesus, the less you look like yourself.

Conclusion

Every transformation in your life happens through the enlightening of your understanding. Behaving well is good, it is polite and it glorifies God, but it does not transform. God isn't looking for a behavioral sacrifice, but for the sacrifice of your will: your purposes and plans surrendered to him.

In which areas of your life have you been calling contentment what is actually conformity?