March 17, 2012 | Leave a comment Today, Saturday March 17, 2012, is the twenty-second day of preparing our hearts, souls and minds for the most high of all Christian holy days, Easter Sunday. Today I need to “put off” conformity to the world and “put on” transformation in my life. One of the greatest examples of how conformed the average American Christian has become to a worldly lifestyle rather than to living a Christian lifestyle which is transformational is represented by the rising divorce rate among confessing born again Christians. Why is divorce among Christians a big deal? Sanctity in the marriage relationship is critical to the practice of Christianity. Why? Because marital relations illustrate Jesus’ relationship with His bride the church. 22 Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body. 24 But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything. 25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, 26 so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless. 28 So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself; 29 for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church, 30 because we are members of His body. 31 For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and shall be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. 32 This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church. 33 Nevertheless, each individual among you also is to love his own wife even as himself, and the wife must see to it that she respects her husband. Ephesians 5:22–33 (NASB) The relationship of a husband with his wife is supposed to demonstrate how Christ loves His bride the church, for those who do not believe. The relationship of a wife toward her husband also models the necessary submission which the church must practice to Christ. Rising rates of divorce within the Christian church reveal that husbands are not loving their wives as Christ loves His church, and that wives are not submitting to their husbands as unto Christ. This results in those who are lost perceiving Christians as hypocrites whose lifestyle is no different from their own. This is the definition of conformity. This is why you and I need to “put off” conformity to the world and “put on” transformation in our lives. A startling and shocking fact which has much to say about the depths of conformity in American Christianity today has been mined from census data. The Associated Press analyzed divorce statistics from the US Census Bureau. They found that Massachusetts had the lowest divorce rate in the U.S. at 2.4 per 1,000 population. Texas had the highest rate at 4.1 per 1,000. They found that the highest divorce rates are found in the “Bible Belt.” The highest divorce rates in America are found in the “Bible belt?” The lowest divorce rates in America are found in one of the most “liberal” states Massachusetts? Conservative Christians perceive Massachusetts to be among the least Christian states in America. Something is seriously wrong with this picture! According to the Boston Globe: “The AP report stated that ‘the divorce rates in these conservative states are roughly 50 percent above the national average of 4.2 per thousand people.’ The 10 Southern states with some of the highest divorce rates were Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Texas. By comparison nine states in the Northeast were among those with the lowest divorce rates: Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont.” The higher divorce rates in the Bible Belt may be due to the lower percentage of Roman Catholics in the South (Catholics do not recognize divorce). Other reasons may be more cultural than religious: Couples in the South enter their first marriages at a younger age. Family incomes in the South are lower. Educational attainment is lower in the South: One in three Massachusetts residents have completed college, while only 23% of Texans have. What the statistics reveal is actually worse. Denomination (by decreasing divorce rate) % who have been divorced Non-denominational 34% Baptists 29% Mainline Protestants 25% Mormons (Not a Christian Denomination) 24% Catholics 21% Lutherans 21% Divorce is higher among conservative and evangelical Christians than liberal Christians. Something is wrong with the current accepted Christian lifestyle in these groups. If the Christian home is a primary tool for demonstrating the morality and authenticity of the Christian lifestyle, then we clearly see the effects of sin and Satanic influence in the Christian home and church. Religion % have been divorced Jews 30% Born-again Christians 27% Other Christians 24% Atheists, Agnostics 21% I believe that the lowest rates of divorce being found among atheists may reveal that Satan attacks those who do not believe with less frequency and vigor than he does God’s chosen people. During the 1950’s something significant changed in America among my father’s generation (the builders) with regard to their Christian lifestyle which continues to impact our society. Age group % have been divorced Baby boomers (33 to 52 years of age) 34% Builders (53 to 72 years of age) 37% Seniors (above 72 years of age) 18% To counter the conformist Christian lifestyle that is currently in vogue among conservative Christians in today’s church requires that you and I to “put off” conformity to the world and “put on” transformation in our lives. We have failed to heed Paul’s lesson. 1 Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. Romans 12:1–2 (NASB) We “put on” transformation by renewing our mind. We need to change our worldview! Rather than thinking that life is all about me, every Christian must accept that the Christian life is really all about Christ! If I cannot maintain the most basic relationship I have with my wife, then the odds are that I will also neglect my relationship with Christ. Positively maintaining each of these relationships requires me to change my thinking from a worldly selfishness to a Christlike selflessness. When I do this I prove that God’s will is good, acceptable and perfect. Lets prove God’s will to be good, acceptable and perfect and “putt off” conformity to the world and “put on” transformation in our lives.