Archived Daily Manna | Rejoice Fellowship | A mission to release people to rejoice in the world.

Message: First, an important note on translation. The Greek word translated “world” literally means “age,” or “era,” but here it specifically refers to the world as opposed to heaven. It means the world we find ourselves in at the present time, but with a special emphasis on societal norms and human behavior. We use it the same way in English, sometimes. We might say, “In Queen Elizabeth’s world, men dressed in short pants and tights.” So it does refer to things that do not change, such as the desire to make lots of money; but it more strongly emphasizes something that does change: culture, the entire panoply of government, society, norms, mores, etc. Most Bibles translate the verse “do not be conformed to this world,” because an important part of the admonition is that we be motivated by the values of God, not by the values of the physical world. But equally important, both in learning how to live and how to read the Bible, it instructs us to resist the pressures put upon our opinions by societal norms: the current “age.” Evil operates through people and through societies of people. They will infect us without meaning to hurt us, because they know no better. When it comes to society, they do not even have to persuade us; we have an unconscious herd instinct, a drive to conform, a need to be “cool.” covet Values of our world: Beauty, fashion, celebrity, and diamonds. I remember being a teenager. Almost every new school year, a group of kids would be wearing some new article of clothing, and I would immediately feel a terrible need to have the same kind of clothes. And a great many people never outgrow this. In fact, if it runs unchecked, it leads to buying ever more expensive stuff that we don’t need. We call them “status symbols”; but really, they are symbols of our willingness to let unholy people define us. Wasting money on fads and fashions stems from sinful pride and envy, but it is by no means the worst way in which we conform to this age. If we are not on our guard, our most personal innermost values will be corrupted. The world wants to define your very moral standards. Covetousness and sexual promiscuity of every kind have become outright virtues, preached at us from our television sets and every other medium of expression. The world urges us, in the words of Psalm 1:1, to “walk not in the counsel of the ungodly.” Paul, having defined this problem, then offers us the strategy to prevent it: transformation through the renewal of our mind so that we can discern God’s will, so that we have the power of mind to tell good from bad, even when we are hearing the opposite all around us. The key word is “renewal,” because the rain never stops trying to find the cracks in our roof. Our roof is forever under attack from hail and freezing winter, by wind and tree limbs. We cannot build a roof and simply say, well, that’s done. We have to patch and replace. The world will exploit the tiniest chink in our armor to gain a foothold in our spirit. Just so, we cannot be baptized and expect that we will forever after be proof against corruption by the age we live in. Evil is clever and powerful, and has many weapons to crack our will. We must renew our mind with God’s Word, by prayer, by reading and listening to sources grounded in the Bible, by thinking about how the lessons we have learned apply to life. We must listen to the quiet voice the Holy Spirit, who will guide us if we don’t let it be drowned out.