Living in a Pattern

We are so surrounded by our culture that we don't even notice it.  The culture we live in is the air that we breathe.  It is nearly impossible to make a decision that isn't informed by or shaped by our culture.

Our culture, and perhaps cultures is the better word, forms patterns that we follow either willingly or blindly.  There can be positive aspects of culture and negative aspects.  There can ironically be counter-culture cultures and mainstream cultures.  But whatever culture or cultures we ourselves are a part of will have an impact in the way we live our life.

Merriam Webster defines culture as: the customary beliefs, social forms and material traits of a racial, religious or social group.
also: the characteristic features of everyday existence shared by people in a place or time.

Culture is everywhere.  Our own culture seeps into our D.N.A. so much that we can even live in multiple cultures and switch our very behavior based on our settings without even noticing it most of the time.

As Christians we are not to be primarily shaped by our culture.

"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

How do we make decisions that are not blindly shaped by our culture and instead make decisions shaped by God and His ways? 

We see in this verse that we are not to conform to the pattern of this world.  We are not to simply conform to the American pattern or the Iowa pattern or the jock pattern or the Millennial  pattern.  We are to do something different.

What are we to do?

We are to be transformed by the renewing of our mind.  See, we are so engulfed by our culture that our minds must be renewed so that we see the world differently.  We must be in our Bibles and learning what God's culture is so we can transform ourselves into citizens of that culture.  Our minds have to be renewed, to be rewired to the cultural norms of His Kingdom.  Then we will be able to test and approve what is His will.

You follow?  We will have a hard time understanding what a normal thing to do in a situation based on culture norms is versus what is the correct thing to do based on what God wants until we commit our minds to the transformative effort of understanding His ways.

The Bible is our filter.  Through the leading of the Holy Spirit in the understanding of what the Bible says, we can make day-to-day decisions that are good, pleasing and perfect... a.k.a. God's will.

But how do we do this when we've already established that we breathe the air of our culture?

"We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." 2 Corinthians 10:5

Our minds think fluently in the patterns of this world and that is why we must slow down and take every thought captive.  We must arrest our thoughts until we put them through the filter formally described to find out if it matches the will of God or simply the pattern of this world.

For instance, buying a new house.  Do we want to buy this house to do as the rest of the culture does?  To move from renting to a starter home, to a larger home, to a larger home, to a larger home...?  Or do we purchase a new home that fits God's will or stay in our current home for the glory of God?  One line of thinking follows the pattern of our culture and the other flies in the face of that in pursuing God's will. 

Living like this might at times look very similar to the culture around you and living like this might make you look downright weird to the culture around you.  Do not conform to your culture alone, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds so that you can do the will of God today.