Do not be conformed to the pattern of this world

I used o begin classes with brief “devotional” thoughts like this. This one is a reflection on a current facebook conversation.

• Do not be conformed 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. Romans 12:2

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Too late in my life I realized how much of my life energy had been wasted on the fear of displeasing my tribe, trying to avoid anything that might not feel, look, sound taste or smell “evangelical” enough. All the while I accepted the lie that “the world” was entirely out there, outside the safe, superior evangelical bubble that had become my world. I tried to ignore the fact that the bubble was smack in the middle of THE world and, often, indistringuishable from it.

So, I became conformed to the pattern of this bubble world, thst parttern of ignoring the depths and looking only at the surface
Now, I seek to conform to the pattern of the kingdom of heaven. I am learning to stop looking with the intent of insantly judging--the pattern to which I had conformed--and to look, instead, with the desire to see.
Where, once, I had become conformed I am, now, being transformed.