Lives For God In A Sinful World

Lives For God In A Sinful World

A HERO’S TALE

Things weren’t just bad. They were downright awful.

When Adam and Eve disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden, sin didn’t quietly tiptoe into the world like a thief sneaking into a house; it charged in like an Old West cattle stampede. Nine generations later, mankind had become so wicked, Genesis 6 describes it this way:

• “Everything [humans] thought or imagined was consistently and totally evil” (v. 5).
• “The LORD was sorry he had ever made [humans] and put them on the earth. It broke his heart” (v. 6).
• “God saw that the earth had become corrupt and was filled with violence” (v. 11).

Humans were failing the test of life. But one man was different. Genesis 6:9 says, “Noah was a righteous man, the only blameless person living on earth at the time, and he walked in close fellowship with God.” While everyone else was choosing wrong, Noah chose right. As humanity fell apart all around him, he stood strong for God.

DECODING THE MESSAGE

It’s hard to be different. Our natural desire is to fit in with others. Nobody likes to be the oddball.

But if you’re a Christian, God calls you to be different from the sinful world around you. Today’s verse, Romans 12:2, says, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (NIV).

The word conform means to fit into a mold. Do you remember playing with Play-Doh? If you press a lump of Play-Doh into a mold, the Play-Doh comes out shaped like the mold.

As humans, we are kind of like Play-Doh. We’re very moldable. But God doesn’t want the wicked world we live in to shape us. He wants to shape us!

The first step in allowing God to shape you is acknowledging your sins and putting your faith in him. You must trust that God knows what’s best for you.

Then you need to read the Bible (that’s the “renewing of your mind” part of Romans 12:2). Praying and obeying your parents are really important too. And avoid following the crowd when the crowd goes against God’s Word. These are all ways to live for God in a sinful world.

Be Play-Doh in God’s hands, not the world’s!

BATTLE PLAN

Set up a daily Bible reading plan. The more you conform to God’s Word, the less you’ll conform to the world around you.