Thursday June 11th – Freedom from being falsely shaped

DAILY BYTE

So we worship because it keeps us free from ourselves, but worship also keeps us free in other ways as well. The Phillips translation of Romans 12 warns Christ-followers not to allow the world to ‘squeeze’ them into its mould. Romans 12 reminds us that worship is a defiant and radical protest against being squeezed into the world’s shape.

For we live in a world that insists life is about money, success and image. We live in a world dominated by fear, stress and anger. We live in environments that stunt our spiritual imaginations and teach us to greedily hoard our emotions and possessions. In almost every movie, TV show, magazine and advertisement there are invitations for us to conform to this ‘mould’. It’s like we are continually and repetitively being called to worship something that is not God and follow a way of life that does not originate from God.

Such pressure to conform to the world’s mould is nothing new. The ancient Israelites struggled against a world that tried to mould them into the shape of Baal worshippers. The early church wrestled against a world that tried to shape them around Emperor Worship. Many Christians either lost their lives by refusing to engage in such worship, or they became Emperor Worshippers by day and Christ-followers by night.

Don’t for a moment think that we are free from such pressures today. For our world tries its best to convince us that there is nothing more to us than being consumers of products and that there is nothing of value to us other than our appearances.

This is the message we hear day after day, hour after hour, and if we allow ourselves to be squeezed into such a mould then we ARE NOT free!

This is why we need to worship. We NEED to go to church and sing and pray of a God who is both incredibly great and generously loving; of a creator who made us with all the dignity and purpose of God’s own children rather than being mere consumers; and that there is so much more to us than we could ever have imagined possible before. It’s almost like when we are worshipping we are gulping in the air we need to survive. It’s almost like worship clears the smog out of our lungs and the fog out of our brains.

Tony Campolo tells the story of going for a stroll along the boardwalk in Atlantic City and encountering a little girl who was carrying a massive stick of candy floss. It was so big that it absolutely dwarfed her. Tony exclaimed in surprise: ‘You’re so little and that candy is so big. It’s bigger than you are!’ She replied: ‘You don’t understand mister. I’m really much bigger on the inside than I am on the outside’.

Worship reminds us of our true shape, of our inner value, and that we are created to be bigger on the inside that we are on the outside. We need to worship so that we will stay true to that shape and to keep us free from being moulded by the world.

PRAY AS YOU GO
Lord, this is why we worship you – because we need to. For it is when we immerse ourselves constantly in your presence, that our souls and spirits are shaped in your image. Help us to keep from being moulded by the world. In Jesus name. Amen.

FOCUS READING
Romans 12. 1-2
With eyes wide open to the mercies of God, I beg you, my sisters and brothers, as an act of intelligent worship, to give him your bodies, as a living sacrifice, consecrated to him and acceptable by him. Don't let the world around you squeeze you into its own mould, but let God re-mould your minds from within, so that you may prove in practice that the plan of God for you is good, meets all his demands and moves towards the goal of true maturity.