Tag: conformed

Podcast Episode: Transforming Lives: Conforming vs. Standing Out

Podcast Episode: Transforming Lives: Conforming vs. Standing Out

Pip: There is a children’s Christmas program somewhere in the annals of history where one kid showed up in a three-piece brown suit, and it turns out that is the whole sermon.

Mara: That story comes from cj, writing at The Way of the Rabbi — and today we are sitting with what it actually means to live as someone set apart, from conformity and identity to the call to stand out in a world pulling hard the other direction.

Pip: Let’s start with the brown suit and what Romans has to say about it.

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Conforming vs. Standing Out

Mara: The central tension here is one believers navigate constantly — the pull to blend in versus the call to be genuinely different, not as a performance but as a lived reality. The question is what that actually looks like when no one is watching.

Pip: The setup is a second-grade Christmas program, one kid in a chocolate brown three-piece suit in a sea of green, and a teacher who thought putting him front and center as the trunk of the tree would help. It did not help. But the pivot to Romans 12 is where the real argument lands, and the text is direct: “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.”

Mara: So the upshot is that transformation is inward first — the visible difference in how someone lives is the outward sign of something already changed at the level of mind and orientation, not a set of external markers bolted on afterward.

Pip: And the post is careful to name what standing out is not. It is not a bumper sticker. It is not a Bible verse posted to social media. The question asked is sharper than that.

Mara: Right — “When you say no words what do your actions say? When you are at work, what does your production say? When you are out with friends, what do your habits say?” The measure is lifestyle, not signal.

Pip: There is also a warning woven in about comfort. The image used is a pot beginning to boil — too many people are so settled into the surrounding culture that they do not notice the temperature rising.

Mara: The passage from Micah gets pulled in here as well: “to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your Elohim.” That requirement, the post argues, is consistent across Moses, the prophets, and Paul — the Father’s standard does not shift.

Pip: The call at the end is to learn the way of the Rabbi, Yahoshua, and to study rather than inherit someone else’s tradition wholesale.

Mara: Standing out, it turns out, is less about being conspicuous and more about being rooted — which is a different kind of visible entirely.

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Pip: A brown suit in a sea of green. It is a small image for a large idea — that what you are wearing, spiritually speaking, should be unmistakable.

Mara: More from The Way of the Rabbi next time.

Read the post here: Transforming Lives: Conforming vs. Standing Out

Transforming Lives: Conforming vs. Standing Out

Transforming Lives: Conforming vs. Standing Out

When I was kid I had a green tank top that was my absolute favorite shirt. I wore that shirt every chance I got. I not only liked the style, but the image on the front, I found especially amusing. It had a picture of a chimpanzee, sitting on a toilet, eating a banana. Most people found the shirt tolerable, my parents surprisingly did. Especially given their usual apprehension to such things, on religious objections.

My mormon friends down the street did not find it at all amusing. In fact, I was not allowed in their home if I was wearing the shirt. I would have to go home and change, which wasn’t too bad, as I just lived a few houses down the street. A small price to pay for my favorite shirt.

I loved it so much that one Christmas season, at my schools Christmas program, I attempted to wear it. You see my second grade class was instructed to wear green. Well, I only owned two pieces of green clothing. My green chimpanzee tank top and a pair of green corduroy pants. I also wore those pants often, never with the tank top, but often enough that they were faded, worn, and never looked clean, even, fresh out of the laundry.

You should have seen the look on my mother’s face when I came out of my room. I announced, “Okay, I am ready to go.” To which my mother said, “You are not wearing that to your Christmas showcase.” “But Mom, we have to wear green and this is all the green I have.” I rebutted. She glared down at me, “Go put on your suit, you are going to look nice.” There was some more back and forth, but there was no winning and eventually I conceded, my mother victorious again. I went back to my room and pulled out my chocolate brown suit with creme colored shirt. The suit was three pieces, slacks, vest, blazer, accented with my creme colored shirt and a brown tie that had a gold weave. It matched the brown shoes with gold buckle. No doubt I looked very nice, but it wasn’t green, and I knew I was in for it, when I walked into my classroom.

Sure enough, the click clack of my dress shoes on the tile floor of the school, echoed down the halls, announcing my arrival. I stepped into the glass and my friends gasped and then as good friends do began pointing and laughing. “You were supposed to wear green!” They said. “I know!” I snapped back. Mrs Michaels my second grade teacher, who already disdained my very existence, walked over to me shaking her head. She asked if my parents were here and I said yes. She then surprisingly turned around to address another issue and I thought, “wow, that’s it? That wasn’t bad at all.”

Soon after Mrs Michaels called the class to the front and told us to get into our stage places to rehearse our two or three songs. I don’t recall the exact number but the one song that stands out in my core memory, “O Christmas Tree.” During all the other rehearsals I was set in the back row, stage right. Tonight in a sea of green Mrs Michaels would get a scarring blow, “CJ, you come down here in front, you are going to be the trunk of our tree. This way you won’t stand out as much.” To which even my second grade brain thought, ‘Not stand out? I am right in the middle up front . . . it will be like I am the only one on the stage!’ It would have been far less noticeable had I been able to stand in the back wearing my worn out green corduroy pants and chimpanzee tank.

Romans 12:1-8 says:
“Therefore I urge you, brothers, on account of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.”

“For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but think of yourself with sober judgment, according to the measure of faith God has given you. Just as each of us has one body with many members, and not all members have the same function, so in Messiah we who are many are one body, and each member belongs to one another.“

“We have different gifts according to the grace given us. If one’s gift is prophecy, let him use it in proportion to his faith; if it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is giving, let him give generously; if it is leading, let him lead with diligence; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.“

I have told that story many times before, illustrating our need as believers in Messiah, to stand out, not blend in. We are called to be different. That although we live in the world, we are not of the world. We were once partakers in sin and disfunction but now we are called to a new life. We are now Ambassadors of the Kingdom. We are now clothed in righteousness and the world should know it. We should stick out. This doesn’t mean driving around with a sticker on your bumper, or posting Bible verses on your social media pages. It isn’t about attending church every week or going to Bible studies.

Now, none of those things are necessarily bad. However, what does your lifestyle say of you. When you say no words what do your actions say? When you are at work, what does your production say? When you are out with friends, what do your habits say? Are you wearing the lifestyle of the King? Have you taken the mantle, are you carrying your cross? This doesn’t mean perfection, we all make mistakes, we allow our flesh to win sometimes. The question is, was that win an upset, or was sin favored to win?

Walking in righteousness is a struggle, walking in the spirit is a struggle. Yahoshua, never said life in Him would be easy. He said, “you will be hated for my names sake.” That isn’t blending in, that is standing out. Does it mean you can’t find favor in the eyes of others? Absolutely not. The early believers in Acts, “praising God and finding favor with all the people.” Yet, still as the day of Adonai approaches He did say that our obedience would become a suffering point. Unfortunately, too many are comfortable with the culture that they don’t realize that the pot is beginning to boil.

The ground is being shaken and we are being called to the front. We are called to represent the King by standing on the roots, bringing the message of life to the masses. We are called to be a brown suit standing in a sea of green tee’s. We are called to be set apart from the world, not to participate in its lawlessness. We must discover what it means to be an heir in the Kingdom.

What did the Father mean when He gave Micah these words; “He has shown you O’man what is good and what does Elohim require of you, to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your Elohim.” He wasn’t changing His ideals or His message for the Father spoke through Moses saying; “And now, O Israel, what does YHWH your God ask of you but to fear YHWH your God by walking in all His ways, to love Him, to serve YHWH your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments and statutes of YHWH that I am giving you this day for your own good.“

What did the Father mean when He inspired Paul to pen these words; “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.” We are called to stand out and be different. We are called to honor our Heavenly Father. We are called to walk according to the Son, our Messiah Yahoshua.

We must learn the way of THE Rabbi, Yahoshua, and walk and do according to His instruction. Which is the Father’s instruction written out for us. Do not get wrapped in mans tradition, and twisted theologies, but rather study to show yourself approved. His Spirit will lead us into all truth if we diligently seek Him with our whole heart, soul, mind and strength. Will you earnestly seek Him? Then join me and subscribe.

You are loved,
cj