40 Days of Preparation Day 5

Today, Leap Day Wednesday February 29, 2012, is Day 5 of preparing our hearts, souls, and minds for Easter Sunday.  Today I must “put off” conforming to this world and “put on” transforming my mind. Jesus taught us that the way to heaven was a narrow way and that there would be few who would find it.

¹³ “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. ¹⁴ For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few. Matthew 7:13–14 (ESV)

If those who find the way to heaven are few and that way is hard, then following the crowd which routinely takes the course of least resistance is not the way you or I should live.  If we are truly seeking God then we need to be prepared to be lonely and often misunderstood. Christian values are diametrically opposed to much that passes as “family values” popular among most of today’s parents.  Too few parents are modeling proper Christian virtue in the presence of their child. Parents may tell their children that they love God and Christ but their actions too often reveal that they love watching TV, accumulating material possessions, sports, work, politics, or America more.

Is this natural tendency not conforming to the world which Paul warns us against in Romans.

² Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. Romans 12:2 (ESV)

Paul states simply and emphatically that Christians are not to conform to the pattern of this world.  Be honest are you more like Jesus or your neighbors? The sad fact is that too often too many of us are much more knowledgeable about American Idol, Dancing with the Stars, the Amazing Race, or the latest row between Democrats and Republicans than we are with God’s eternal unchangeable word. Such a state of affairs among Christians is not only unwise but intolerable. As we continue to prepare our hearts, souls and minds for the most high of all Christian holy days, Easter Sunday, take the time today to truly evaluate the extent of your own personal conformity to the ways of man.  Are your desires and affections more inline with achieving the American dream than they are in pleasing God? Pastor David Platt has written a very challenging book which explores this subject. I suggest that you read it.

Paul teaches us the key to living a life that is not conforming to the world.  The key is to renew or transform your mind.  How do we renew or transform our minds? By allowing God the Holy Spirit to fill us daily.  Each of us must empty ourselves of our own selfish desires allow God to fill us with his Spirit which will guide us into all truth. Especially the truth about what is important and unimportant in this present life.

We also transform our minds by reading, studying, and meditating upon God’s Word; the Christian Scriptures.  I’m continually saddened by the increase of biblical illiteracy in our culture. Please read the Bible for yourselves. It is a lie you cannot understand it.  It may not be easy but it is certainly possible. And remember where we began this devotion the easy way leads to destruction but the hard way leads to eternal life!

As you prepare yourself for a truly holy celebration of Easter today take the chance to begin the process of “putting off” conformity, or following the crowd, and take the road less traveled by “putting on” transformation of your mind. This transformation process, which we call salvation and discipleship, is certainly not a dead end, but when you’re dead you be glad you allowed Christ to begin it in you. Then like Paul you will be able to ask the question “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”

⁵⁰ I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. ⁵¹ Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, ⁵² in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. ⁵³ For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. ⁵⁴ When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” ⁵⁵“O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”⁵⁶ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. ⁵⁷ But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁵⁸ Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. 1 Corinthians 15:50–58 (ESV)

Make it your goal today to follow Christ, and not the crow