Refusing to let the world change you.

Every day, our minds and hearts are forced into the mould of the world. We are told how to think, act, and look. Most people think that following the pull of the culture will give them a sense of identity and the approval of others. As Christians, we are called to live against the current of the world but so many of us are afraid to refuse to let the world change them. It’s hard to stay true when you feel that you’re standing alone. This is precisely the call of God upon our lives, to be set apart from the world. It’s impossible to remain untainted by the world in our own strength but we are not called to carry out this high calling on our own. As I have been living my life with this God-given desire to stay true to Him, I can honestly testify that God is delighted to give us the wisdom and endurance to carry out this incredible privilege. This is not to say that it is an easy path, there have been many times when I came close to despair because I had often felt unfit for such a high calling. The testing of our character as we allow God to set us apart from this generation is often daunting and painful, but the more we are tried, the more dross falls away in the heat of the fire and the more polished we become. To make it practical, we need to look at a few aspects of our lives where we should be intentional about not allowing the world to corrupt us, especially as women. Our appearance is the target of the culture we live in and if we’re not intentional about seeking to set ourselves apart form the world, we will simply follow the trends of the world blindly. God placed into our hearts the desire to be beautiful and He doesn’t intent to oppress us, but the world’s definition of beauty is dishonourable and vulgar. The world calls us to be entirely self-absorbed, spending all of our time and energy in the way we look- from placing higher importance on our bodies than on our souls to finding our beauty merely in the way we wear makeup or clothes instead of finding our value in the unseen qualities of the heart. Our attitudes is another vulnerable target of the world and we need to be so very careful about what we think and how we carry ourselves. Everything we see screams of vanity and pride. Today’s woman is loud and seductive, shamelessly flaunting herself every chance she gets. Only by looking away from the image of the world and looking to Christ’s attitude as described in the Bible will we be able to set ourselves apart in this area as well. He was God but chose to make Himself of no reputation and to lay down His life even unto death. We are called to do nothing out of self-ambition and conceit but in humility to regard others as more important than ourselves. There are timeless principles that we simply can’t compromise if we truly desire to live set apart. How beautiful and courageous is the woman who refuses to let the culture shape her! Will you stay true?