Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. – Romans 12:2
I will never live in Florida. Don’t get me wrong – I’ve got nothing against the state or the people. I love the place. It’s the salamanders that I have a beef with.
Two years ago, I was in Florida working on my second book, Simply Sasquatch. I was out on the pool deck, taking advantage of the nice winter weather. But despite the perfect climate, I couldn’t get anything done. This is because every time I started reading or writing, I saw something moving out of the corner of my eye. Then when I would turn to look, nothing was there. It was driving me NUTS.
My ADD brain had to figure this out. Instead of doing work, I got caught up in finding out what was making all of the movement. It took a while, but I finally found it: a salamander. The reason I couldn’t see it was because it blended in with its surroundings. Tricky lizard.
A lot of Christians have salamander-like tendencies, but we are not called to blend in with their environment. We’re supposed to stand out. I picture a salamander who chooses to be a flashy color – like pink – even though it contrasts with the background. Wherever he goes, people can see him for what he is, just like Christians should be.
This world has a lot of appealing things for us to get sucked into. Christians conform to the world in so many areas: lifestyle, work ethic, image, and selfishness. We often want to look like everyone else and have the stuff that everyone else has. We should throw off those obsessions and follow Paul’s advice to renew our minds.
OK, so what exactly does it mean to ‘renew your mind’?
It’s through the time that we spend with God that our minds are filled with His will and desire. And because of that time spent, we take different steps than we naturally would; good steps. Our convictions exist only because we have someone convicting us. If we don’t involve God in our everyday lives, it will be easy for us to blend in with the rest of the world.
Only if our minds are renewed can we can start to understand God’s good, pleasing, and perfect will. This world claims that possessions can be good, pleasing, and perfect: the beachfront house, the Italian sports car, the 120-inch HDTV. But it’s a trick; it’s materialism.
In the movie A Christmas Story, Ralphie thought that he could not live without a Red Rider BB gun. It was his good, pleasing, and perfect gun. But just like his mom predicted the whole movie, it almost shot his eye out in the end. Tricky BB gun.
Ralphie thought that the Red Rider would transform his life. In the end, it almost cost him an eye.
To stand out, we need to start with the renewal of our minds, brought about by holy time with God. Then, we can resist the temptation to be a barely visible salamander. Instead, we can go against the grain and the patterns of this world. The world will see that there is something different about us, and that’s a good thing.
