Conform

"Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind" (Romans 12:2).

A friend of mine recently started riding his bike to work several times per week. Coincidently, he began biking to work the week of Denver's Bike to Work day. Never wanting to be a conformist, he decided to drive to work on Bike to Work Day. He simply wanted to bike to work, not be associated with some movement or agenda. He's never been much of one to jump on the bandwagon.

Some would call him stubborn, but I found humor in his little act of non-conformity. I think I have a built-in appreciation for those counter-culture contemporaries in our midst as well as those of long ago who set before us the example of non-conformity, including Jesus Christ.

Read the Gospels, especially Jesus' statements on the Kingdom of God, and you'll see many examples of counter-culture thought: don't resist the evil person, love your enemy, turn the other cheek, go the extra mile, sell all you have and give it to the poor, wash one another's feet, don't store up treasures for yourselves on earth...pretty radical stuff, actually.

The truth is, the Way of Christ will quite often bring us into conflict with the "patterns of this world". Our culture encourages us to consume; Jesus teaches us to give. Our society teaches us to fight; Jesus teaches us the way of peace. Our greed causes us to live for ourselves; Jesus tells us to take up our cross. I don't recall Jesus ever making easy the path to discipleship.

Sometimes I wonder if our compulsive need for acceptance in society is what causes us to conform to so many patterns that do not resemble minds transformed by Christ. Don't get me wrong, I hate rejection. It gets under my skin and can leave my soul groaning for days and weeks afterwards. But I wonder just how often we seek for our legitimacy in other things. How often has our collective desire to be "mainstream" caused us to leave behind some central teachings of Jesus.

Maybe I should really be OK with being "odd". Different.

After all, followers of Christ live differently, love differently, and trust in different things. We may not want to be different (and deal with all the behavior that comes from being different), but we are. Whether I was the fat kid, the poor kid, the white guy, the only American, or having to explain to Christians who the Brethren are because nobody around here has ever heard of them, I've had to adjust to being different than most people around me.

To be honest with you, I've becomed accustomed to being different...and I like it.

Non-conformity is an ageless principle that perhaps we struggle with in our times. I think every generation of believers has wrestled with this perpetual issue. For me, I am concerned about how the patterns of this world are wreaking havoc on body, mind, soul, and spirit. In some cases, I see churches and believers who are exact mirror representations of the society in which they live, comfortable in their fusion of sanctuary and society. On the other hand, I have seen churches and believers who have completely withdrawn from neighbor and the society surrounding them. I'm somewhere in the middle...

We cannot leave the world behind, but I believe we should once again learn to practice discernment as to what in our culture conflicts with the Way of Christ and what does not. While I may reject certain patterns of this world, Jesus teaches me that I cannot reject the people who live in this world. Though we may crave concrete principles and patterns, we must also learn the art of discernment to bring the disciple of Christ into full maturity.

Like my friend who drives on bike day and bikes on drive days, I think it's OK to be different...perhaps necessary.