Conformity

“…that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death…” (Philippians 3:10 NKJV)

According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, conform means: “to make or be like: agree; to obey customs or standards.” If your friends, family, neighbors, classmates, co-workers, those who know you most and those who know you least were to be your “mirror,” to them, what story is your life’s witness telling? To them, to those who are viewing your life, who would you resemble most? You or Jesus?

On some levels that may seem like a silly question, I mean, after all, they can only see your visible presence, your physical form, but think with me. Whose personality, worldview, principles, convictions, are they seeing? What about your forms of entertainment, enjoyment, pleasures? What makes you laugh? Cry? Fear? Worry? Fret? In what or whom do you find the most joy, satisfaction, contentment?

Realize it or not, like it or not, everyday we are conforming to a shape we alone are choosing. That’s true physically, emotionally, educationally, psychologically, as well as spiritually. We are at the controls of our life, choosing which paths we will take, how we will invest or waste our time, money, energy, resources of every kind. We alone determine what the priorities of our life will be.

Yes, of course, if we’re married, have children, a job, family, friends, there are “pressures” to conform to someone else’s expectations of us, but ultimately the proverbial “buck” stops with us. When we stand before the Lord to give an account of our life, we’re the only one who will be held responsible and accountable for the outcome of our life.

So, who are you becoming? The best version of yourself? The best version of the person you believe your spouse, parents, friends, employer, someone else wants you to be? Ultimately, we’re placed on earth to be the person God designed and created us to become, but that can only happen as we choose to be conformed to the likeness of our Savior.

The word used in the verse above that’s translated “conformed” literally means “to receive the same form as.” Think about that for a moment. How do we shape our life? How do we determine the “form our life will take? How can I know my life is being shaped into the likeness of Jesus? It’s interesting to me that Paul wanted to be conformed to Jesus’ death. What are the implications?

Jesus’ whole purpose for coming to earth was to die. He didn’t come, like most of us, to get as much enjoyment, fun, pleasure, contentment, fulfillment, and joy out of life as we can, then die a peaceful, calm, and hopefully, pain free death. He came with the express purpose of dying an agonizing, tormenting, unimaginable death, not because of anything He did wrong and certainly not because He deserved it, but to pay the penalty for our sin, so that we might enjoy the promise of a future and a hope of eternal life we could never have attained without Him.

Knowing that was His end, His whole life had to be conformed to the likeness of His Father who was perfect in every way. Talk about pressure! Whew! No one could have EVER done that, except Jesus. But He did and because His whole life was a process of conforming to the Father’s will in preparation for His death, how much greater effort and intention must be put into how and why we live our lives.

We need to delve deeper. There’s more here. We’ll pick it up in tomorrow’s post.

Blessings, Ed 😊