In the fall of grade 12, I was struck by the implications of the first couple verses in Romans 12: “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.”
Through conversations with friends, I realized that even though our heart may be to follow God, many of the decisions we make, the paths we choose, reflect a need to feel the world’s approval. When there is nothing obviously “evil,” about something, it is easy to be assimilated into the value system of the culture around you.
I’ve learned that if you avoid asking hard questions and don’t evaluate your motivation and values, it is a quick slide into compromise.
We were not called to fit in, but to be set apart for Christ.
This began my journey of processing where God’s values contradict the world’s. I called my study “Extraterrestrials: Not of This World.” I hope that these pieces will be a tool of accountability for myself, and also help my readers to start asking difficult questions.
In the World 