Be Not Conformed To This World

1 John 5:14-15   -    And we are sure of this, that he will listen to us whenever we ask him for anything in line with his will.  And if we really know he is listening when we talk to him and make our requests, then we can be sure that he will answer us.

John closes out his first letter with reminders that our belief on Jesus gives us eternal life…..to make sure we guard our hearts from any sin that might lessen God’s importance in our heart….and to remember that we are God’s children….and can tap into his power to fight our daily battles any time we need them. One way to be confident in this is to make sure that everything we pray for aligns with his will.

I admit that this is one of the hardest things for any believer to do. The balance of what we want for ourselves and what God needs us to want in our life is blurred with the world’s standard. When God reveals something we think will be bad or hard to do our flesh takes over and tries to convince our heart we can’t possibly be thinking right.

God left us instructions. Romans 12:2 says…  “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.” Romans 8:27  says …. “And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.” These verses tell us to pray….not with the world’s view of things…but to search our hearts for the unselfish…humble spirit of Jesus…ready to die for man’s sin.

Is it possible then… that our failure to find his perfect will in our lives is rooted in our inability to separate completely from the world’s view of what that should be?  John writes later in verse 18-19 …. “No one who has become part of God’s family makes a practice of sinning, for Christ, God’s Son, holds him securely, and the devil cannot get his hands on him. We know that we are children of God and that all the rest of the world around us is under Satan’s power and control.

That tells me that one of the keys to staying in God’s will is to make sure the world controls none of our thoughts. Sin is something we should run from… our thoughts should be constantly consumed with ways to share God’s love with others so that arguments about the color of coffee cups ….whether Christmas trees and decorations should be visible before Thanksgiving….or any number of other soap boxes that appear to go viral each day that do nothing to help others learn about the one person that can give them eternal life.

Father…thank you for the reminder that the world is not my home and should control zero of my thoughts.  Forgive me for getting caught up in useless debates of worldly issues that take my heart and energies away from seeking your will for my life.  Help me to run away from the things that are of the world and won’t help me know you in a deeper way. Show me how to channel all of my energy and thoughts into searching for you and how to share you with others.  Amen.