Do not conform 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

A nurse practitioner friend once had several framed photos in her office taken from Apple’s Think Different advertising campaign. I remember images of Martin Luther King Jr., Gandhi and Bob Dylan. She still has the Bob Dylan  The original television ad began with these words –

Here’s to the crazy ones.
The misfits. The rebels.
The troublemakers.
The round pegs in the square holes….

Who were the original non-conformists? Nearly two thousand years ago, Paul challenged followers of Christ to live as nonconformists. In the first century, Christians dared to be different. Instead of going along with the culture of the day, they thought differently. Paul encouraged them to break the mold and they did.. They lived differently and rejected the culture of the day. And they turned the world upside down (Acts 17:6) – not by protests and violence, but through living honorable, compassionate, obedient lives and telling others about the Truth.

We like to think we are the round pegs being forced into square holes, but how many of us willingly conform to what is expected of us? We may think “peer pressure”, refers to the pressure to conform that young men and women experience in their teens. But, if we’re honest we are all pressured to conform at one level or another well into adulthood.

Not conforming to expectations of others is more than what we say “no” to in our lives. As Christians we are to say yes to living in such a way that doesn’t conform.