WILLING TO BE DIFFERENT

FLEEING FROM THE SIN OF BLENDING IN.....

By Shirley Wiggins

The sin of blending in….¹  Could this be the answer to my desperate discomfort on so many Sunday mornings in worship service?

I berate myself for my clothes, hair, make-up, shoes:  my overall appearance.  I haven’t found one thing to suit me, so far.  I feel like I stand out like a sore – bleeding! – thumb. 

This is more than being displeased with my outfit on a particular morning.  I am so acutely aware of feeling “different” that I cannot shift my focus from me to my Lord and Savior –the reason for my being in church on each Sunday morning.  But, is He the reason for my attendance? 

Really?  Then, why am I more focused on ‘me’ than on Him?!

And my discomfort – is it because I am not like everyone else; or, perhaps that I am too much like the world? 

The root of my discomfort may be that I am not like the “me” I secretly want to be:  I want to be “different.”  I am in the process of coming to grips with an aging body. And, I want to be a “better” person in every way – now.  I want my physical age to line up with the maturing me I should be spiritually, I think to myself, momentarily forgetting that transformation is a spiritual process, not an immediate attainment.   

Yet, perhaps even this is not really the reason for my discomfort, and certainly it is not that I am more spiritual than the people around me.  I am not.  I cannot hold a candle among these saints for faithfulness and genuineness.

So, what is the reason for my desperate discomfort?  I need my Father to answer that for me.  Clearly show me what that is all about, and help me to repent of my sin.

Perhaps my sin is the sin of blending in – with the world.  “The world” in this context means the unbelieving world, the world which has rejected God and Jesus and the Truth of the Bible.

Am I actually not willing to be different from the world?  I have to admit this is a very real possibility.

Have I believed a lie and thus compromised the Truth of God’s word and just what the fact of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ means for and to all people?

With repentant heart, I have to admit that on occasion I have, in a sense, done that very thing.  Not out loud and on purpose perhaps, but by remaining silent and inactive when the world denies His very existence.  When the world symbolically arises all around me and clamors for His death once again:  demanding that He (and His Name) be expelled and exiled from this nation and all other nations in every sense of the word.

I recognize, and repent of my sin of secretly blending in… silently with the world, when I refuse to be different – vastly, glaringly with the unbelieving world.

My place and presence is in the church building fellowshipping with the body of Christ and adding my voice to the worshiping and praising of the God of my salvation.  For I am a member of the body of Christ – He is truly my Savior and I am truly His born-again child of God.

So, what is my problem?

My problem is perhaps the same as your problem:  the age-old war against sin –  the spiritual battle that rages on in the world as Satan seeks to outdo God, to fight, lie, cheat, steal, and kill to prove he can be god himself, and that he can do God’s job better than God Himself.

The only problem with that line of thought is that it is based in the lie that the devil fathered, and he has fallen into his own snare and trap by believing his own lie!

Isn’t that astounding?!  That one could actually tell a lie and end up believing it oneself?!  That is amazing to me!

And, yet, I fall for those lies when I give in to deceptive thoughts in my own mind – when I fail to fight the lie with the antidote:  the Truth of God and His Word:

 His written Word, The Holy Bible, and

His living Word, Jesus Christ, and

 His revealer of Truth,  the Holy Spirit.

I have all these resources, and yet, to my dismay, I find that I have fallen for another of the lies.  The good news is that my Father’s Holy Spirit comes faithfully to me bringing truth to me again, dispelling the lie – again.

What an awesome truth of mercy and grace is the love of God, who pours out His love in the hearts of His people by His Holy Spirit, who gained this access for us into the new and living way by the death of Jesus Christ, and His subsequent resurrection and ascension back into heaven!

And, what an awesome gift He left here for those of us still stuck in this world without His bodily presence:  His own Holy Spirit who actually dwells within the bodies of believers!

What a powerful and amazingly accessible antidote to deception!  And, yet, sobering thought:  how many people are still living in the snare of deception – the web of lies spun by the Adversary? 

An apt name for the devil, Satan himself:  Adversary, for he opposes and fights against God and His people every day in every way.

And, yet, the battle is not ours in the most fundamental way.  God, our Father, has never left us alone – not for one single moment.  He is with us still.  After His death and resurrection, Jesus ascended into heaven telling the believers it was advantageously essential that He return to heaven, but that His Father would send a Helper just like Him to remain with the believers in the world to aid and comfort and guide and protect us until Jesus Himself returns to gather His own safely home to heaven. (See John 14 – 17.)

Will you be in that number whom Jesus will come for and take back to heaven, our prepared place of eternal abode?  I will.  I am completely ashamed of my weaknesses, but I am reminded by godly people that my weaknesses are no match for God’s strength in Jesus Christ.  God actually proves His strength through weaknesses.  (Precious study by Priscilla Shirer:  ‘Gideon.’)

How amazing is that?!  No matter how weak I (or you) may be (physically or spiritually) on any given day, the grace of Jesus is sufficient for me (and you), for His strength is made perfect through our weaknesses.  (2 Corinthians 12:9.)

Let’s break from the sin of blending in with the world, and dare to be different!  Let us be women (and men, and boys and girls) of faith in Jesus Christ! 

Let us destroy the idols of deception that sneak into our minds and try to work their way into our hearts – demolish them by the power of God’s word, the Holy Bible, and His Holy Spirit.   God’s Word is to be read and meditated upon daily if we are to be strengthened by Him.

Let us stand up to the voices of the world, declaring our faith in and allegiance to the God of the Bible and to His Savior who died and rose again for our victory:  Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God!

The one man – Adam’s –  disobedient sinful act, at the offer of the adversary made to the woman, Eve, who fell for the lie, allowed sin entry into the world.  And the One Man – Jesus’ – obedient sinless act, provided for mankind’s rescue from the power of sin and death².

 “For if because of one man’s trespass (lapse, offense) death reigned through that one, much more surely will those who receive (God’s) overflowing grace (unmerited favor) and the free gift of righteousness (putting them into right standing with Himself) reign as kings in life through the one Man Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One).”  “Well then, as one man’s trespass [one man’s false step and falling away led] to condemnation for all men, so One Man’s act of righteousness [leads] to acquittal and right standing with God and life for all men.”  “For just as by one man’s disobedience (failing to hear, heedlessness, and carelessness) so by one Man’s obedience the many will be constituted righteous (made acceptable to God, brought into right standing with Him).” …   “So that just as sin has reigned in death, so grace (God’s unearned and undeserved favor) might reign also through righteousness (right standing with God) which issues in eternal life through Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One) our Lord.”  Romans 5:17-19, 21 (Amplified Bible).

The Son of Man– the One who dared to be different by refusing to blend in with the world around Him - put rescue and redemption within our reach. (2)

 He is our example:   “To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in His steps.  ‘He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in His mouth.’ When they hurled their insults at Him, He did not retaliate; when He suffered, He made no threats.  Instead, He entrusted Himself to Him who judges justly.  He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; ‘by His wounds you have been healed.’ For you were like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.”  1 Peter 2: 21-25 (NIV 2011).

He is our model, as is the apostle Paul, and many others who’ve lived by the commands of God in Jesus:    “I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.  All of us who are mature should take such a view of things.  And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you.  Only let us live up to what we have already attained.  Join together in following my example, brothers and sisters, and just as you have us as a model, keep your eyes on those who live as we do.  For I have told you before and now tell you again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ.  …  But our citizenship is in heaven.  And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables Him to bring everything under His control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like His glorious body.”    Philippians 3:15-18, 20-21  (NIV 2011).

 

 

 

 

¹“Fleeing from the sin of blending in…”  I read these words in an email devotional I received , from the book Tozer on Christian Leadership by A.W. Tozer, compiled by Ron Eggert.

²To be a child of God, you must first have a relationship with Jesus Christ.  John 3:16 says:

            “God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever

            believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

If you have never accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord of your life, I encourage you to pray a simple prayer confessing your sin and asking Him to cleanse you of that sin. As you repent and turn from your sin to Christ, and “confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved”. (Romans 10:9) If you have just prayed to receive Christ, tell someone!  And go to Church!