Devotionals for the Heart: Why God's servants should not conform

Nonconforming Servants of God
A devotional by Christa MacDonald

“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 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 12:1-2 (NIV)

Humans are social critters. We like to form groups, clubs, tribes, alliances and then define who’s in and who’s out. Anyone who attended a public high school in America can probably remember the cliques of their day and what was required for membership. Band geeks, nerds, jocks, whatever your crew was, even if it was just you and two others, there was always a code of sorts. Maybe it was dressing a certain way, talking, having the same hobbies or extracurriculars, but belonging meant conforming.

We still have our tribes and clubs as adults, but we also have cultural and societal norms influencing how we live. There’s a great deal of social pressure to conform to what the majority of people around us think is the “correct” way to live. In our age, we have to add to that the pressure from media, everything from Facebook, to movies and television, YouTube, and TikTok. We’re continually being told how to behave, what to consume, what to think.

God calls his children out of the world and all its influences. Instead of being focused on ourselves, He calls us to focus on Jesus and to live our lives as witnesses to his Grace and Mercy. And it’s not easy. Living according to God’s will makes no sense to a world that glorifies the self-indulgent. The temptation to give just a bit here and there, going along with the world, is pretty strong. In the United States and other wealthy nations, we’re insulated from sacrifice by the comforts of our daily lives. We indulge ourselves. We dull our spiritual senses with platitudes and watered-down works. We don’t give of ourselves; we write a check to someone already doing the work while our lives are unchanged, unbothered by God’s great commission.

I’ve noted in these troubled times that some of that comfort has been stripped away. I’m not as complacent as I was before. Life and death feel far more immediate. It’s like waking up from a comfortable doze to see the house on fire. It feels more urgent to share the Gospel. Far more critical to seek God’s will. Have you felt that too?

It’s time to shake off the drugging influence of the world’s creature comforts as well as its influence and remember whose we are. We need to allow the Spirit to renew our minds and change our perspectives, and then dedicate our lives to living our faith.

~*~
Author Bio:

Christa MacDonald is a 2017 ACFW Carol Award finalist for contemporary Christian fiction.

A native New Englander, she was inspired by her travels through the north woods of Maine to write The Broken Trail, which would become the first in the Sweet River Redemption series published by Mountain Brook Ink.

Christa's writing focuses on the real-life challenges of the modern world, love’s sometimes crooked path, and the redemptive power of Grace.

When not working or writing Christa can be found ferrying her kids around, reading, or attempting something crafty.

She and her husband live with their three kids, two cats, and one dog along the coast of New England. Connect with Christa at www.christamacdonald.com.

Devotionals for the Heart: Identity

I am God’s daughter
A devotional by Jessica Brodie

When my daughter was five, she was desperate to dye her dark-brown hair a vivid golden blond, swap her chocolate-colored eyes out for blue, and lighten her olive skin to a fair peach. (She also wanted to change her name, but that’s another story entirely.) In my mind, she should have been immune to these things, but already, the games had begun.

You know, the comparison games. The games many of us start to play as preteens and sometimes never stop.

“Why can’t I have curly hair like her?”

“Why can’t I have straight hair?”

“Why can’t I be curvy?”

“Why can’t I be less curvy?”

What is wrong with us? We’re all so desperate to fix these supposed flaws we believe we have, think if we can just change this or disguise that or get rid of X, Y, Z, or Q then everything will be perfect. Perhaps we think we can alter our identity, change our path.

At the root of all this is a misguided perception that somehow, someway, we don’t measure up to some ideal standard. Somehow, we fall short. Somehow, we are not good enough.

However, one look at Scripture tells us this is all an awful lie.

When God created the universe, He made the heavens and the waters over the earth, the plants and the trees, and said it was all good (Genesis 1:10, 12). He made the day, the night, and the stars above, and said it was good (18). He made the fish, the birds, and all the animals and said it was good (21, 25).

But when He made humans? That was exceptionally special.

Genesis 1:27 says God created human beings “in His own image. In the image of God He created them; male and female He created them” (NLT).

That to God wasn’t just “good”—it was “very good” (31).

We know this is true. So why do we think negative thoughts about ourselves and how we were made? Why do we think we were born with the “wrong” hair color?

Why did God make me short, or have broad shoulders or hips?

Why I born deaf, or with a heart condition, or nearsighted?

No matter how God made us, we can rest assured it was by design. God didn’t “mess up somehow” or “make a silly mistake” when He made us. Every bit of God’s design for us was intentional.

And He made every single one of us in His image.

That is profound!

Not only are we made in His image, but we are also known completely by Him—and loved exactly how we are. Scripture is filled with those reminders.

Psalm 139-13-16 says, “You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it. You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed” (NLT).

Jeremiah 29:11 says, “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ says the Lord. ‘They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope’” (NLT).

This same God—THE God, the One and the Only, the Alpha and the Omega—knit us, formed us, planned our future, and loves us completely and wholly.

And God doesn’t scrimp! I’m His daughter, and I know: He doesn’t make junk.

It’s time we remembered how very much He loves us and how perfectly created we are… just the way we are.

We need to love ourselves just as God loves us.

~*~
Author Bio:

Jessica Brodie is an award-winning Christian novelist, journalist, editor, blogger, and writing coach and the recipient of the 2018 American Christian Fiction Writers Genesis Award for her novel, The Memory Garden.

She is also the editor of the South Carolina United Methodist Advocate, the oldest newspaper in Methodism, and a member of the Wholly Loved Ministries team.

Learn more about her fiction and read her faith blog at http://jessicabrodie.com.