Religion & Spirituality
***Old cheesy martial arts movies******My favorite was Bruce Lee******Saw a documentary on Bruce Lee discussing his fighting style - Be like water***Ok Dane, how does that pertain to this morning’s Scripture lesson?Well, water takes the form of whatever it is poured into…Its shape and boundaries are defined by whatever vessel it is in.And depending on angles and gravity and other factors,The water can sit dormant, or it can move.When water sits dormant, it becomes stagnant and begins to stink and become good for nothing.But when water is moving, or being consumed by something,Then it is good for something.Now water can also be a powerful force when moved by the right circumstance.When there is a raging river, or a storm, or something happens in the ocean,Or closer to home - when it is pumped through a hose…I saw a video this week about a water drill and this thing was impressive.By using a high pressure jet of water it was cutting through steel like it was butter.So water, when calm and unmoving, is harmless,But when acted on by an external force is powerful.Now, with all of that in mind, let’s look at our lives…In particular, our spiritual lives.You see, in Romans 12 Paul exhorts us to not be conformed to the world any longer…What does that mean; to be conformed to the world?It means do not think or act the way you did before knowing Christ.See, before knowing Christ, the way we handle things,The way we perceive things, what way we treat our relationships,The things we put our hope in, the way we trust, the way we love,The way we see money, the way we use our money,It should all be different from how the world operates.“The world” here, is not God’s creation; is not the things in the world we enjoy,Like food, or technology, or entertainment, etc.Now some of this will change when we know Christ because our world view changes.We no longer look to these things for our worth, or our purpose.Instead we see them for what they are, nothing more.Food, technology, entertainment, money, etc. - these things cannot define us,Or be our driving force when we know Christ, but the “world” being spoken of here,Is deeper than these things, even though these things are included.See, the “world” here in this statement is the underlying way of thinking,The underlying spirit of the world.Looking out for me first.Keeping all I can because the one who dies with the most, wins.Using others to get ahead in life.When we speak of the world we are talking about a way of thinking,That divides and that has a 100% me first attitude.One that looks at others to determine where they fall short so I can feel better about myself.And Paul is admonishing us - those of us who know Christ - to not conform to this.But instead, be transformed by a renewing of our mind.See, following Christ is first and foremost a spiritual pursuit,But it is one that also includes our mind and logic.And we are to seek God’s Word and seek God in prayer,So that we know what this looks like.When we surrender our lives…ourselves…to Christ, we are given a new heart,We are forgiven and redeemed, and