Student Leaders
TRANSFORMER OR CONFORMER?
by Pastor Don Nagy
"Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind." - Romans 12:2a
My mom used to make those Jello jigglers all of the time. You know, the kind of Jello that you can eat with your hands! She could make them into any shape if she had the right cookie cutouts. She could make squares, stars, half-moons, Christmas trees, you name it. As long as she had the right mold, she could make it. That is the thing about Jello. It always takes the shape of whatever surrounds it. It always conforms to the shape of its surroundings.
Scripture tells us not to be like Jello! We are told that we are not to conform to the patterns of this world. We're not to be formed and molded and shaped by the world that surrounds us. That is the very definition of conforming.
As young people looking to make a difference in the world, don't miss this truth: You cannot be a world changer if you are a conformer. If you want to make a difference IN the world, you have to first be different FROM the world. You can't go out and change the world if you are just like the world. The only way to change the world is to be different from the world and that first takes a renewing of your mind.
If you want to make a difference IN the world, you have to first be different FROM the world.
And here is the interesting side effect of having your mind renewed: you'll find that when your mind is transformed you become a transformer as opposed to a conformer. A conformer is someone who is changed by their environment. A transformer is someone who changes their environment. A conformer takes the shape of their surroundings. A transformer re-shapes their surroundings. A conformer adapts to the climate that they find themselves in. A transformer changes the climate of the culture they find themselves in.
It's like the difference between a thermometer and a thermostat. A thermostat transforms the environment. If I set it high, the room gets warm. If I lower it, the room cools off. The thermostat changes its surroundings. It transforms it! We are called to be thermostats!
A thermometer, on the other hand, is changed by its surroundings. If it is warm, the thermometer rises. If it is cool, the thermometer drops. A thermometer just reacts to the temperature of its surroundings, while a thermostat changes it.
So which one are you? A conformer, or a transformer? A thermometer, or a thermostat? Do you just become like everyone else around you, conforming to whatever environment that you find yourself in? Or do you transform it as an agent of change? Are you trying to make a difference in the world while being no different than the world? Or are you allowing God to make your mind different, transforming it so that you in turn can transform the various environments where God has placed you?