Feasting on Rage

In the passage we looked at yesterday Paul told us not to conform to the patterns of this world. The word conform carries within it a sense of the wannabe. A conformist wants to fit in and in so doing spends his or her days studying the norms and the nomenclature from whatever group they desire acceptance. Since most of us pride ourselves on our independence and originality of thought, we might think that this advice has nothing to do with us. We couldn’t be more wrong. Oftentimes when I think the sermon is for someone else, I’m quickly disabused of that conceit. And this one in particular – being a conformist – is one that we all need to hear. And now more than ever.

When I was growing up the rabbit ears on our black and white TV brought in three or four stations. The evening news was just that – a report on what had taken place on that particular day and with very little commentary, opinion or spin. The major newspapers had their political preferences, no doubt, but much of that was confined to the opinion page. In other words, news didn’t really define us so much as inform us. In my town, people of differing political parties actually liked each other, sat in church together and joined the Rotary Club together.
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All that has changed. The effort to rent space in our brains is now a 24/7 enterprise driven by people who seem to have no unfiltered or unpublished thought. Hyperbole and vitriol dominate and poison nearly every form of communication and we’ll all expected to take a side. Conformity is the goal. We’re no longer being encouraged to think, we’re being told whatto think.

In our present culture, Paul’s words become more important than ever, and especially so in light of our desire to become a people of God who practice blessing and praying for others. It is an impossible task to carry out if we’re feasting on the rage that is the current pattern of this world. In order to pull off this great command of Jesus, we must know peace at a very deep place in our souls. So Paul continues…Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Not conformed, but transformed. We’ll pick up there tomorrow.