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

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.

This weekend, we spent some time with some long-time friends in Knoxville. We talked about some of the challenges we face today and how the pressure to comply with the culture around us is likely to continue to increase in the years ahead.

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. They lived differently. 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.

In Ephesians, Paul instructs the people of Ephesus (as well as us) to –

Put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

Ephesians 4:23

When you feel pressured by the world around you, resist the urge to conform and break the mold by honoring God in all you say and do.