I know you’ve all heard this…
And when we hear it, we normally think of peer pressure. Of going to that party or or seeing that movie or dating that guy.
But I believe there’s a more subtle “cliff jump” happening everyday, and we don’t even realize we’re in the air: it’s in our minds, how we think. We allow the world’s standards, their version of what “should be”, to be our standards.
In dating, for example, many Christian teens/young adults have been sucked into the mindset that you should “date around” or “sow your wild oats” when you’re young. Many are told sex before marriage is fine and living together before marriage is beneficial. But God’s word – and divorce statistics – tell us just the opposite.
We adults are told to adopt the “me first” attitude at work and at home. We are told to tell ourselves “I deserve ________ (whatever we want most).” And, sure, it sounds great. I’d like to believe I deserve a spa day or “me time.” But I don’t “deserve” anything. I would like things. I am refreshed by time alone. But deserve…? I think that is one of the most dangerous words in our vocabulary – it is the complete opposite of the “put the needs of others above yourself” lifestyle that we are told to live.
What about you? How do you develop your opinions? Your standards? Are they based on God’s word or are they based on the standards of those around you? Or maybe they’re one step more “holy” than those around you (“my friends are all having sex, but I’m not going nearly that far…”)?
Is where you are where you should be? Where you want to be? Have you followed all your friends off a cliff? If you have, stop and think. Pray. Seek the Mind of Christ, not the mind of the world.
“Do not conform 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
