Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Romans 12:2

The church we’re attending while out in Phoenix did an outreach last weekend called Inside/Out. They invested time at local schools and parks and some spent time at a nursing home. While the phrase they used was directed at the church working in the community, it also does refer to the idea of living the kind of life that “breaks the mold” and I started thinking again about what that means to us today.

While we usually think of nonconformists based on outward appearances, the real differences begin on the inside. And, in our world of loud voices, the idea of tolerance still rules and the only ideas that are not tolerated are those that claim an absolute truth.

Resisting the modern view of tolerance is just one way the Christian is called to live differently by standing for truth. But refusing to be conformed or molded by this world is much more.

One of the guys at our Bible study on Monday night talked about how easy it is to serve God wholeheartedly when he is with other Christians. He recognized the importance of being the kind of man who is different at work on a Tuesday as well.

It was true in the first century as those followers of Christ were willing to swim upstream and not only think differently, but live differently than the larger culture around them. They didn’t know it at the time, but their personal transformation eventually turned the world upside down. And that idea is still true today.

Let’s think about what it means to break free from the mold. I think A.W. Tozer summed it up well when he wrote that “religion can reform a person’s life, but it can never transform him. Only the Holy Spirit can transform!”