Day 18 – Different

"And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect."
Romans 12:1-2

In the 1890s, a Russian psychologist named Alexander Pavlov discovered that if you rang a bell each time you fed a dog, over time that dog would begin to salivate each time the bell rang. The theory was that certain triggers in the brain could be conditioned to respond to just about any stimuli in a predictable manner simply by associating the stimulus with an event consistently over time. Ring a bell every time you feed a dog and soon the dog will salivate each time you ring the bell. The term Pavlov’s dog became associated with just about anything that seemed to suggest this kind of conditioned reflex.

It seems as though Pavlov’s theory remains true in our society today. Everywhere you look there are people who seem to be conditioned to respond to what the world views success to be. Even the basic premise behind commercials is that if you eat this food, or wear these clothes, or drive this car, or wear this cologne like these cool, trendy people do in the commercial, then your life will be better than it is right now. Can you believe it? It’s as though these agencies really believe that if they just make a slick, 30 second commercial and ring the right bells then, people will simply – salivate.

And we do. Pavlov’s dog.

In the first century church, Paul was well aware of this theory, though he didn’t name it and he didn’t use animals to prove it. Paul understood that over time, this world would condition a follower of Christ to believe that real living was to imitate the behaviors and customs of the world. Go for the shortcuts. Get your satisfaction now. Don’t abstain for tomorrow what you can enjoy today. Live for the moment. Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die.

Paul urges us to reconsider. He says not to be conditioned and conformed to the image of this world. Instead, we should have our lives transformed into something different as we intentionally train our minds to respond to God’s stimuli – His Word. It’s only after we begin to retrain our minds to believe and respond to God’s Word that we begin to experience the different kind of life that God has prepared for us. It’s impossible to live a godly life with an ungodly mind. And yet there are so many Christians who find their sense of worth, satisfaction and inspiration in this world rather in God’s Word.

Imagine what your life would be like if you truly believed what God’s Word says about who you really are – loved, significant, accepted and secure. Imagine what the world would think about a people who truly lived out the commands of God to love the unlovely, to care for the uncared for, and to forgive the unforgivable. Imagine what the Church could be if the people who claimed to follow Christ stopped following Oprah, Dr. Phil, their hair dressers and their horoscopes and lived their lives according to the standards of God’s Word.

We would be…different. And the world would never be the same.

As you pray today, use the following thoughts to spur your conversation with God.

• Thank God that He has set you free from the bondage of this world’s values and beliefs.
• Thank God that He has given you the mind of Christ and that you have everything necessary for your mind to be renewed.
• Ask God to give you a passion for His Word like you have never had before so that it my shape your values, thoughts and actions.
• Ask God to make you aware of the stimuli in your life that cause you to respond contrary to the way God desires you to respond.
• Ask God to give you the strength to redefine “normal” for your life as you break from the things of this world that you tend to be drawn to.
• Ask God for the strength to be His hands and feet today to those around you, demonstrating that Christianity has relevance for both your life as well as theirs.