Romans 12:2
Be not conformed to this world but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.
We spent several lessons on how we conform to this world. We used the chameleon as our "Conformer".
The chameleon camouflages himself to fit into the world around him. We talked about reasons we may want to change ourselves to be like the world around us. Peer pressure, fear, bulling, and just simply because a lot of us want to make others happy, we want to be liked. So we try to become somebody we aren't.
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Many times we as adults get so wrapped up into trying to fit in that we lose ourselves, we forget who we really were before we started making so many changes in our search for that sense of belonging. Inside we are still the same and yet for all our changes and all our conforming to other ideas of what we should look like, act like, do and think, we are never happy.
Things don't have to be a sin for us to feel that pressure to conform. As an adult I feel pressure to conform. Something as simple as weight is a huge thing for most women. If you don't believe me, gain 40 lbs and see how differently you are treated, then lose those 40lbs and observe again...everybody has a different response to how you look and most people have no 2nd thoughts to telling you their opinion good or bad, when your fat or skinny. A lot of people probably don't even realize it but some treat you differently as well. This is just one thing I can relate to as my weight is always up or down. I feel that pressure all the time. I go to bed with it, I wake up with it....it follows me everywhere. I don't need you to tell me I am gaining weight and refer to my looks as you would a tragic accident...I do all that myself.
Another way we as adults feel pressured is providing the best for our kids, keeping up with the friends of our children to make sure they aren't singled out, bullied or that they may feel a sadness for not having what their friends have. Clothes, houses, book bags, Electronics, vacations, you name it. I imagine this is even more of a burden for men than it is most women as men are the main providers in most homes.
We feel pressure in other areas of parenting, are we to easy on our kids, are we to hard on them, how is other parents handling the same situations?
We worry that our kids will be embarrassed of us for the way we look or dress, are our clothes nice enough, is our hair fixed just right, on & on.
For those of us who don't believe in cutting our hair we worry that people will think we are some type of alien with bulging head bumps that we cover with this huge mass of hair, or if we wear our hair down you run the risk of being petted like a dog by complete strangers, or if your really lucky like me complete strangers will come up to you and say "Do you know you need a hair cut?!" We worry other women will think we are gross or that we aren't clean or don't try to keep up with ourselves because we don't visit a beauty salon and cut off dead ends, if you don't believe me you should see the looks I get when I wear my hair down and the comments... For those that cut their hair, I am sure you deal with the after thoughts of did I get it cut good enough, if I get it cut at Great Clips will I look like I laid under the lawn mower, is this cut out of style, or coloring and perming.... all these ridiculous things we as women do because we feel that pressure to measure up to some other person's standards of beautiful.
I worry Gary or close friends might look at me to long and really see all the flaws in me, you know kinda like Gothel after she goes from "magical" to "downright creepy"! Like her age just hit her all at once! BAM with the UGLY/AGE stick!
I know ...your thinking I have really flipped and need some OCD meds ASAP! Some of these worries are funny and sometimes I admit I have had a good cry over hurtful remarks but always a good laugh afterwards when God speak peace to my mind and his Love clears away all the firey darts Satan throws my way.
Some of these things are so petty and so ridiculous, but aren't they all? I think the bully in our lives today and always, is Satan. He may use others to make you feel this way but, don't ever doubt he is behind it all! When we stop and take a moment to think rationally instead of rushing thru the day...
I know that no matter what I look like on the outside,or how other perceive my physical body,
I am fearfully and wonderfully made in His image.
Psalm 139:14 I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
My earthly possessions great or small, matter not in the bigger picture of life, nor do they define me and God does not place my souls value on my credit score great or small.
Matthew 6:19-21
19Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:
20But
lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust
doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
21For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
I am a good parent as is my husband, we may not be perfect but we love our kids and do the best we can for them they will survive if they don't have Miss Me jeans, Hollister clothing, no it doesn't hurt for them to have those things and yes they like when they get them but God never commanded me to dress them in name brands He did command me to love them, to protect them, to provide for them, and to discipline them.
Proverbs 22:6 (KJV)
- Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.
A lot of my battles are of the mind for, after all my decision to follow Christ has been made. My standards and biblical or personal convictions may not be yours but they most assuredly are mine. There is something inside of me that won't let me bend them a little or break them, or toss them aside, sometimes I have like a pouting child told the Lord, "THAT'S IT! I QUIT! I REFUSE TO FIGHT ANY MORE!" that is the moment when spiritually, He carries me until I am strong enough to walk again, the moments that in my weakest He is my strength, and that stubborn streak I have is only strengthened and I can't just walk away, I can't quit...and I am thankful for that. At the same time it means my mind is where Satan attacks me...if he can get me to doubt and fear long enough, He will have a greater chance in the battle for my soul.
2 Corinthians 12:10
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Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities,
in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak,
then am I strong.
Isaiah 40:31 (KJV)
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But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall
mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and
they shall walk, and not faint.
PSALMS 28
6Blessed be the Lord, because he hath heard the voice of my supplications.
7The Lord
is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped:
therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise
him.
8The Lord is their strength, and he is the saving strength of his anointed.
I could add verse after verse of God's promises but I will stop here ;)
Thanks to my faithful readers! I hope your are encouraged ;)
I will have to finish up on Transforming at another time!
Love,
Jamie
