Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is - His good, pleasing, and perfect will. Romans 12:2 This verse came up in a recent Bible study, and as most of us do we talked about how not to be conformed to the pattern of this world. Usually, this conversation goes to ethics and religion and the "idols of this age." But let me take it a different direction - tell me what you think. The opposite of being conformed to the pattern of this world is to be transformed by the renewing of your mind. But what is the purpose of such transformation? To test and approve (NIV; prove NASB) the will of God. In this life, the will of God for us primarily involves our relationship with Him and our relationships with one another (cf. the Sermon on the Mount). In other words, a major difference between being "conformed" and being "transformed" has to do with our approach to relationships. And relationships primarily come down to communication. {Matt's Aside: I understand that there are two major leaps in that paragraph, both of which probably demand their own explanation. The will of God for all people is to know His Son Jesus Christ. But this letter was written to people who already do, so now we are talking about the will of God for Christians. The New Testament is clear that the Christian life is about relationships, therefore God's will for us focuses on how we handle our relationships here on Earth. The second leap is that relationships are primarily communication. I'm talking about all levels of communication: verbal, emotional, physical, written. Our relationships are based on interaction, and interaction is communication. If I ever make an assumption that you don't follow, just let me know.} Now, where am I going with this? The brave new world we live in has redefined communication. Goodness, I'm writing a blog. What's a blog? Anyway, think about the way kids and teens communicate - non-verbally. And I don't mean in physical nuance, but in bursts of digital text. Kids can be sitting at the same table at lunch and never say a word, but they're texting each other. Think about twitter. Twitter has created an entire sub-language designed to condense thoughts into the fewest possible characters. And when you're not having a direct conversation in Twitter, you're basically speaking to no one. Seriously, the purpose of a tweet is to speak to no one in particular (kind of like a blog). They've created entire sub-languages of emoticons. Each one of these little icons has organically developed its own full range of meaning, just like a word. What's the point, blog boy? There are lots of ways that this world forces us to conform to its pattern. I wonder if one of the overlooked ways is in communication. I wonder if Twitter and Facebook and Snapchat and the rest are problematic not only in the ways we can get in trouble in how we use them but in also redefining the way we think about communication. The older you are, the harder this might be to appreciate - after all, you grew up using conversation. But it's tough not to notice that chunks of our younger populations seem to prefer texting to speaking. Message boards give people the forum to speak nonsense and anger with impunity, hiding behind whatever digital identity they have created. Tweeting has reduced relationships to random declarations to no one in particular. I don't know if Paul had problems with methods of communication in the New Testament world (if he had that in mind when he mentioned the "pattern of this world"). But I feel confident in saying that he had relationships in mind. After all, he followed that verse with exhortations about serving in the church, and about love: Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality. Romans 12:9-13 Why would Paul put what seems to be a random string of advice here in the letter to the Romans? Because that is the will of God that our transformed mind should be able to approve. These involve personal, time-spent relationships. Face-to-face contact. Interactive involvement.
I have no problem with things like Facebook in and of themselves. It's like sending letters and pictures to all of my friends (and receiving them). But I wonder if we will discover that our reliance on new ways of digital communication are affecting our ability to have relationships in the biblical sense. I wonder if we will discover that we have been conforming to a pattern of this world that is making it harder for us to participate in the will of God for how we treat people. Maybe not. I hope not.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorIf I ever say something in here that doesn't make sense, please ask me to clarify. It always makes sense in my head, but that doesn't necessary mean anything to you . . . Categories
All
|