The word is adapt.
Late for I had a hard time with this one. And I may go against the grain here, but I seem to do that a lot.
Adapt –“ to conform oneself to new or different conditions” – a definition I pulled from rhymezone.com. How much should I adapt to as a Christian? Two days of lethargy and sadness was enough. I prayed all day through it. I was quiet about its source, (yes, I knew) and I finally said “no”. It swept away with no apparent reason and that hints to me I conformed to a lie and acted upon it and my emotions took it for a ride. It is sometimes easy to adapt to a situation, to go along to get along, but is that what Christ instructs us to do? Adapt and conform? I see differently in Romans 12:2. “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect”.
So, I guess the big question (for me) is, “How do I know the difference”? And that is the world. What about other Christians? I need to compare scripture to scripture, not experience to experience or emotion to emotion. We are saved by regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, not by deeds Titus 3:5. We are told to lay aside the old self and put on the new self. This doesn't sound like conforming to a person or a situation. This to me sounds like making a choice to recognize where I am operating. If I am living in a renewed mind, the will of God will prove itself to me. That is transformation. It is my choice to live there or not.
It is never a matter of adapting to someone's side. It is a matter of taking a position based on the truth we know. It is never opinion Jesus is after. It is His purpose to show us the Father. This he told Philip in John 14:8,9. “…If you have seen me, you have seen the Father…” The way I see this is that if you want people to see Jesus in you, then keep putting on your new renewed self and not just adapt to those around you. You may not be popular, you may be misunderstood, but the will of God will prove itself in your life.
This is the place I see hope, in my redemption, not in my circumstances. It is a continual process, but if it is never applied, then I will never grow. I will always remain in the same never-ending cycle. We are fine-tuned by Christ within His body, but we are not a herd nor are we clones. We are uniquely designed for His purpose and we must individually seek that through a relationship with Him.
Amen! It's so important to keep close to Jesus so that we can discern lies and traps. I just finished reading Bob Goff's book Everybody Always, and it really has me thinking about ways I need to change in my life.
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